Mohammad Kaif revealed that prior to a match, one of his friends informed him of MS Dhoni’s big-hitting skills. He along with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, who were all part of the Indian team during MS Dhoni’s debut game and most of whom played under MS Dhoni later, revealed how none of the players could fathom in MS Dhoni’s early days that he would become an accomplished leader.
Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif, who was the Man of the Match in MS Dhoni’s first ODI for India, recalled his first impression of the former India captain.
Mohammad Kaif First Time Noticed MS Dhoni Playing For East Zone
MS Dhoni made his debut for India on December 23, 2004, in a match where Mohammad Kaif scored 80 off 111 balls as India defeated Bangladesh by eight wickets. In the match, MS Dhoni was run out for a duck after facing just one ball. Exactly 16 years after MS Dhoni’s India debut, Mohammad Kaif recalled the time he spotted a young MS Dhoni and what came to his mind.
“The first time I noticed Dhoni, I was the captain of the Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. And he was playing for East Zone, not as a captain, a wicketkeeper. He had also toured for India A,” a clip aired of Mohammad Kaif as saying, on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
With MS Dhoni making a mark in the India A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05. MS Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut. In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, he was picked for the Pakistan ODI series.
In the second match of the series, he playing his fifth one-day international scored 148 in Visakhapatnam off only 123 deliveries. MS Dhoni’s 148 surpassed the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper.
MS Dhoni was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI at Jaipur. Sri Lanka had set India a target of 299 and MS Dhoni was promoted to accelerate the scoring and he scored an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India.
Mohammad Kaif: No Cricketer Though MS Dhoni Would Lift Indian Cricket To Such Heights
Mohammad Kaif further revealed how prior to the match, a friend of his had informed him of MS Dhoni’s big-hitting skills but none of the cricketers thought that he would captain India one day and take Indian team to new heights.
“I had a friend in Lucknow who told me ‘Kaif, there is a player. Watch him. He has long hair and I’ve never seen anyone hit sixes like he does. All of us who were playing at that time – I, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Sehwag – none of us thought that he could captain India the way he did, who would lift Indian cricket to such heights,” Kaif added.
MS Dhoni is the only captain to win all three ICC trophies – Champions Trophy in 2013 besides two World Cups- 2007 inaugural T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup which India won after a hiatus of 28 years. He announced his retirement from international cricket on Independence Day, 2020 bringing down curtains over a 16-year-old career.
He also captained the Chennai Super Kings to victory in 2010, 2011 and 2018 seasons of IPL, along with wins in the 2010 and 2014 editions of defunct Champions League Twenty20.
MS Dhoni cemented his legacy as India’s most successful captain besides leading India to the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time.