New Delhi: Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was very eager to have Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the wicketkeeper back on the 2004 notable tour of Pakistan, former India coach John Wright has disclosed.
“MS Dhoni nearly toured with us to Pakistan. Sourav was very keen to have him in the squad. He was on the borderline, and it was one of those decisions that could have gone either way…That was obviously when Dhoni had started to come into discussions at the national level. Sourav had very good things to say about him and always encouraged youngsters who came into the set-up,” Wright was quoted as saying to IANS.
Wright, who was India’s first foreign coach between 2000 and 2005, applauded Dhoni’s tactical sharpness and eagerness to catch up with things. “It was obvious that MS Dhoni was not only a very gifted cricketer but also an extremely intelligent one. He was a very good listener who didn’t say much in his first series (under me) but was observing and learning all the time. I thought at the time that he had a big future in front of him,” said the New Zealander adding that Dhoni read the game an over ahead of others.
“(Dhoni) came in after openers Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag had put on a good stand and he came in at No. 3. The most interesting thing was that he was quite happy just to rotate the strike and give the batsman who was in, and I thought that it was really intelligent and smart cricket. And that was one of his characteristics not only as a cricketer but as a leader, particularly in one-day cricket, throughout his career,” Wright further added.
In December 2004, Dhoni made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong. After that, he made his Test debut in December 2005 against Sri Lanka in Chennai. Captain Cool went on to become one of the most successful Indian captains in the two shorter formats ODI and T20.
