For years, Sourav Ganguly has been credited for MS Dhoni’s debut in international cricket. Dhoni was very much an unknown name in Indian cricket fraternity before he made his debut in 2004. Before him, India had tried out the likes of Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik but both of them had failed to perform consistently.
Sourav Ganguly finally decided to try Dhoni in 2004. It was a debut to forget as he was run-out for a duck. But it took his just four more matches to prove his worth as he played a historic knock of 148 against Pakistan in just his 5th ODI and the rest is history. On Monday, India opener Mayank Agarwal once again reminded Sourav Ganguly that ‘his word got Dhoni picked in the team’, thus giving him the credit for Dhoni’s debut.
Well, Sourav Ganguly agreed about the debut part but was quick to say that picking Dhoni was just a part of his job. He then went on to shower praise on his former teammate. He hailed Dhoni as unbelievable and said that we was happy that Indian cricket enjoyed the services of the wicketkeeper-batsman.
“That’s true but that’s my job. Isn’t it,” said Sourav Ganguly while speaking to Agarwal for his show #DadaOpensWithMayank.
“That’s every captain’s job to pick the best and make the best team possible. You go by your instincts, you go by your faith on the player that he will deliver for you. I am happy that Indian cricket got a Mahendra Singh Dhoni, because he is unbelievable,” he added.
Agreeing to Sourav Ganguly’s point, Agarwal was quick to hail Dhoni’s finishing abilities. In reply, Sourav Ganguly said that Dhoni is not only a good finisher but also one of the great batsmen in the world. He also said that the veteran should bat higher up in the order.
“One of the great players in the world I would say, not only a great finisher. Everyone talks about the way he finishes lower down the order, [but] he batted at number three when I was the captain and got 148 against Pakistan in Vizag. He’s fantastic. I always believe that he should bat up the order. The best players can find the fence under pressure consistently and MS Dhoni was one of them,” said Sourav Ganguly.
"I'm happy that Indian cricket got a Mahendra Singh Dhoni, because he is unbelievable," @SGanguly99 to @mayankcricket on #DadaOpensWithMayank #HappyBirthdayMSDhoni @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/KCua8qq4hu
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 7, 2020
Dhoni completely justified the faith shown in him by Sourav Ganguly and went on to create his own legacy. He proved himself as a batsman, a wicketkeeper and a captain. The World Cup-winning captain is the third in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper. Apart from Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist, he is the only wicketkeeper to have more than 800 dismissals in international cricket.
With the bat, he has scored more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. In Tests, he has scored nearly 5,000 runs while in T20Is, he has more than 1,600 runs.