MS Dhoni certainly did change the dynamic of the game and the way we looked at the wicket-keepers. Before Dhoni, India never really had someone who could take up the role of a finisher and win matches for the team consistently.
In fact, India had to go ahead with Rahul Dravid for a long time because of the lack of power-hitting ability in the available players at that time.
Talking about why Dhoni was selected in the team, former Indian selector Kiran More said that the team was looking for someone who could whack the ball and score quick runs.
“Rahul Dravid had already kept in 75 One-day Internationals, so we were looking for a wicketkeeper-batsman who could whack the ball and we could give Rahul a respite,” More told WV Raman on his podcast ‘Inside Out’.
He also added that there was something special with Dhoni in the way he approached the game.
“There was surely something special about the way he approached the game. We picked him for India A to Kenya, where he had a good tour and scored over 600 runs. We already had players like Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh but when Dhoni came, he was a complete package and took the Indian cricket by storm,” More further recalled.
Dhoni certainly did make an impact right from the beginning. He scored a brutal 148 against Pakistan his first ODI century and followed it with 148 for his maiden Test ton.
After a long career, Dhoni had retired on August 15th 2020. He will continue to lead Chennai Super Kings at least for one more season.
