table of contents

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has opened up on his decision to include MS Dhoni in the Indian team before promoting him under a very aggressive model.
Sourav Ganguly was the one who actually supported MS Dhoni and P.He was quickly assimilated into the system, as he felt that players who were talented enough should be fast-tracked, and Playing with people above his level helps a player improve his skill set.

MS Dhoni moves forward Became one of India’s greatest cricketers, scoring 10,000+ runs in ODI cricket and nearly 15,000 international runs across all three formats and leading India to three ICC titles.
Sourav Ganguly talks about his call on MS Dhoni
Ganguly revealed that former Indian selector Saba Karim had a major role in getting MS Dhoni recognized as a Jharkhand cricketer. He also agreed that much before his debut, Dhoni was noticed by the Indian selectors as well as the Indian captain himself for his unique talent.
“Saba Karim told me, ‘He hits a lot of sixes.’ So we selected him straight from there for India A. He played his first match for my team at Wankhede Stadium. He scored a century and was hitting sixes on the roof,” Ganguly said on Raj Shamni Podcast.

That performance seemed to remove the hesitation. Ganguly said, “We had to take him. Anyone who is good has to be fast-tracked. You cannot leave him. If you keep cooking him slowly from behind, he will be finished.”
I had to see it before making a final decision. So I put that decision on hold for a few days – Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly responded on Raj Shamani’s podcast, where he claimed that MS Dhoni had attracted attention even before his debut, but he had to stop the decision taken by the then national selector Saba Karim.
He also explained the cricketing logic behind that aggressive promotion model. He said, “That’s the system. If you play with people above your level, your game will go up. If you play with people above your level, your game will go down.”
He also revealed that he had withheld the final decision after Dhoni was selected in the team. Sourav Ganguly told, “I had to see them before taking the final decision. So, I put that decision on hold for a few days.”
Ganguly concluded, “We watch entire matches. When Dhoni played, I went to Jamshedpur to watch him. He didn’t even know.”
How Sourav Ganguly’s philosophy changed Indian cricket?
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is often called the greatest Indian captain, bringing generational talent to the Indian team. He reshaped Indian cricket by including players like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh.
Ganguly, who supported the development of cricket with Strong competition and support with newcomers Some? Won’t think twice about opportunities Assign Players create chances and push them To Big roles.
This was proved once again when Ganguly promoted Dhoni to number 1.. 3 against one of the toughest opponents in MS Dhoni, where he converted potential into certainty. Dhoni scored 148 runs in just 123 balls with the help of 15 fours and four sixes. It produced one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen in the history of Indian cricket.
Also read: Shubman Gill’s heartfelt Instagram post goes viral after GT’s loss to KKR in IPL 2026


