MS Dhoni came from a small town but went on to rule the cricket world with his astute captaincy skills. But the way to his rise was marked from 2007 after he was handed over the captaincy of the young team in the 2007 T20 World Cup. The wicketkeeper-batsman, known for his long orangish hair’s at that time, astonished everyone as he guided Team India to lift the trophy of the inauguration edition of the 20-over format World Cup.
In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page, Sanjay Jagdale revealed the impregnable trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had requested the selectors not to pick them for the shortest format. The senior selection committee, under Dilip Vengsarkar, then elevated young MS Dhoni to the captaincy role.
“This was 2007 and I was a selector. And I was with the Indian team in England, and we were having a one-day series. Dilip [Vengsarkar] was chairman…and we had a meeting for selecting the World Cup 2007 team,” he revealed.
“So Sachin, Sourav and Rahul had told us, ‘Don’t consider us.’ So we picked a new team, a very young team. And I was in London, I had given my opinion, and Dhoni became captain for the first time,” Jagdale said.
Sir, World Cup jeetke ayenge, MS Dhoni told Sanjay Jagdale
Jagdale recalled that he was discussing the new-look Indian T20 side with MS Dhoni. The former selector has now revealed the then 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman sounded confident of winning the tournament.
“So after the seventh one day was over, I still recollect in the dressing room I told MS, ‘This is a good team.’ And he said, ‘Sir, World Cup jeetke ayenge (Sir, we will come back with the World Cup).’ I was shocked just seeing the confidence,” Jagdale, who represented Central Zone in the senior selection committee from 2000 to 2007, exclaimed.
Jagdale stated that his technique had caught everyone’s eye in domestic cricket which compelled the selectors to watch him live. After impressing the national selectors, Dhoni was included in India A’s tour of Kenya where he smashed 362 runs at an average of 72.4 during India A’s tour of Kenya in 2004.
“I still recollect Pranab Roy, who was the selector from East Zone, once told me, ‘Sanjay, there is a boy from Bihar, very unorthodox. You must go and see him.’ So I still recollect [Syed] Kirmani was the chairman.
“This is 2002-03, and myself and Kirmani went to Siliguri just to have a look at Dhoni. There was a Deodhar Trophy match and MS scored 40 odd runs and then we sent him to Kenya,” Jagdale stated.
MS Dhoni retired from international cricket on August 15 after being unavailable for over one year from international cricket.