MiD DAY catches up with Kolkata man Pranob Roy, who was instrumental in Dhoni's India selection
MiD DAY catches up with Kolkata man Pranob Roy, who was instrumental in Dhoni's India selectionu00a0
Quite often, the best of young talent from small towns go unnoticed. But destiny played its part in the case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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MS Dhoni celebrates his first international ton, in an ODI against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam in April 2005. pic/afp |
Getting a break at the right time is a huge factor in sport. And, if you come from a small town like Ranchi, impressing the right men is certainly not easy. Luck favoured Dhoni in this regard.
When he was close to break into the Indian team, one of the five senior national selectors happened to be someone who had umpired quite a few of his matches at the junior level.
Kolkata's Pranob Roy was the East Zone representative in the selection committee from 2002-03 to 2005-06, a period which coincided with Dhoni's rise into prominence at the domestic level.
The former India and Bengal batsman did his job well when it came to highlighting Dhoni's potential to convince his fellow selectors about the boy from the nondescript Jharkhand town. When your selection turns out to be such a massive success as Dhoni has proved to be, naturally the satisfaction is immense.
Before becoming a selector, Roy dabbled in umpiring after his playing stint and it sure helped him identify the right talent.
Dhoni's U-19 final"As an umpire I officiated in some junior matches in Bihar too and had seen Dhoni playing in those games, but you come across so many players that you don't really notice," revealed Roy. "The memory of Dhoni's young days which sticks out is the 1999-2000 under-19 final that he played for Bihar against Punjab at Jamshedpur's Keenan Stadium. Yashpal Sharma (current selector) and I were officiating in that game. I remember he scored some runs (84 at No 7) but what struck me was the raw talent and energy of the youngster," revealed Roy.
Besides hailing from a small town, Dhoni's not-so-pleasing-to-the-eye batting style also raised doubts about him being able to translate his domestic success at the international cricket in his early days. But Roy didn't think so. "Having followed Dhoni's career from his junior days, I was always convinced that he had it in him to be successful at the top level. He had his own playing style, but the bottom line was, it was very effective," said Roy.
So, how did Roy manage to convince his colleagues in the selection panel about Dhoni's ability? "I was the only selector who had seen Dhoni, so naturally some of the selectors had reservations. The first time all the selectors got to see him was in a Duleep Trophy final at Mohali. Dhoni was actually the second wicketkeeper in the game but first-choice Deep Dasgupta got injured and Dhoni got the chance. He scored 70-odd and took some brilliant catches. The selection committee did not need much convincing after that," said Roy.
Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik were the selectors' favourites, but once Dhoni got a look-in, he never looked back. "Frankly, he has exceeded even my expectations. It's been fairytale stuff," said Roy, who is floored by Dhoni's success as captain.
Greg's prediction "You will be surprised to know that the first person who identified him as captaincy material was Greg Chappell. And he made the statement within just two weeks of working with Dhoni," revealed Roy.
"He had just taken over as India coach and we were at a dinner in Delhi. When one of us asked him who he thought would make a good India captain in future. Greg said: 'It's Dhoni. He's a brilliant student of the game; has great work ethic and cricket intelligence'. It was amazing foresight.
"I told Dhoni about it when he came to play in Kolkata after the Indian team returned from the disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign. He just laughed at it. He said: 'Dada, people are throwing stones at my house and you say I will become captain.' As it turned out, within a few months Rahul Dravid stepped down and Dhoni was leading the side."
