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We gambled on the right horse and he won the race for us: Kiran More on including MS Dhoni in Team India

Former India cricketer and ex-chairman of selectors Kiran More is credited to have played a big role in identifying the potential of a young and talented Mahendra Singh Dhoni and picking him up on the national side.

We gambled on the right horse and he won the race for us: Kiran More on including MS Dhoni in Team India

New Delhi, June 2: Former India cricketer and ex-chairman of selectors Kiran More is credited to have played a big role in identifying the potential of a young and talented Mahendra Singh Dhoni and picking him up on the national side.

More has revealed how his decision to give MS Dhoni a chance on the national side was a gamble which paid off. While responding to a question from West Indies fast-bowling great Curtly Ambrose during a YouTube show called 'The Curtly and Karishma Show'.

More said that they were looking for a wicketkeeper-batsman after the 2003 World Cup in which Rahul Dravid had kept wickets and the selection panel decided to go with the 23-year-old attacking batsman.

"My colleague saw him (Dhoni) first, then I went and saw him. I especially flew down and saw him get 130 runs out of the team's total of 170. He smashed everyone. We wanted him to play in the (Duleep Trophy 2004) finals as a wicket-keeper. That's when we had a lot of debate with Sourav Ganguly and Deep Dasgupta. It took about ten days to tell Sourav and his selector to ask Deep to not keep wickets, and to let MS Dhoni keep wickets," More said.

In a Duleep Trophy match, Dhoni smashed the North Zone bowlers to all parts of the ground in Mohali and earned his call-up to the India A side.

"Dhoni kept wickets, smashed Ashish Nehra and all the bowlers from North Zone, 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. Dhoni had all the package to become a match-winner. It was only a matter of time before all of them clicked together," More added.

"It's like gambling, you need to gamble on the right horse. We gambled on the right horse and that day he won the race for us. I am happy sitting at home and I give a lot of credit to my fellow selectors as well," More concluded.

Story first published: Wednesday, June 2, 2021, 18:32 [IST]
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