Took 10 days to persuade Sourav Ganguly to let MS Dhoni preserve wickets: Kiran More

MS Dhoni acquired his huge break in Indian cricket after then-captain Sourav Ganguly was satisfied to let the Jharkhand wicketkeeper play within the 2004 Duleep Trophy remaining as an alternative of Deep Dasgupta, the Bengal wicketkeeper who was additionally within the India group then, stated former chief selector Kiran More.
Speaking concerning the 2004 match, the place a 22-year-old Dhoni performed for East Zone as wicketkeeper and opening batsman, More stated on an episode of The Curtly and Karishma Show on YouTube: “We were looking for a wicket-keeper batsman. We were looking for a power-hitter, someone who can come at No.6 or 7 and get us quick 40-50 runs.”
More stated he had gone to witness Dhoni taking part in after listening to about his big-hitting exploits from his colleagues. Upon seeing Dhoni rating 130 runs out of his group’s whole of 170 in a single match, More went to India captain Ganguly to try to persuade him to offer an opportunity to Dhoni within the Duleep Trophy remaining.
“We wanted Dhoni to play in the final as a wicketkeeper. That’s when we had a lot of debate with Sourav Ganguly and Deep Dasgupta – who played for India then and who was from Calcutta. So, it took about ten days to convince Sourav and his selector to ask Deep Dasgupta to not keep wickets, and to let MS Dhoni keep wickets,” More recalled.
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Dhoni scored 21 runs within the first innings of the ultimate, opening with Shiv Sunder Das, earlier than belting 60 off 47 within the second innings. Later that 12 months, he would later journey with an India A squad for a triangular sequence in Kenya, additionally involving Pakistan A.
“Dhoni kept wickets, he smashed all the bowlers around and then we sent him to Kenya for the triangular series involving India A, Pakistan A and Kenya. MS scored about 600 runs and after that rest his history,” More stated.
In December 2004, Dhoni made his worldwide debut pipping the likes of Dasgupta and Dinesh Karthik.