BCCI President and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly hailed MS Dhoni's superb ability to find boundaries at will, as he heaped praise on India's legendary wicketkeeper-batsman.
In a part of the conversation with Mayank Agarwal released on Dhoni's birthday today, Ganguly said that it was him who picked Dhoni, as he had faith in the player's ability. "Your word got Mahi bhai picked in the Indian team, and the rest is history. Is that a myth or a reality?" Mayank asked him during the conversation.
"Yeah, it's true but that's my job, isn't it? It's every captain's job to pick the best and make the best team possible," replied Ganguly.
"You go by your instincts and you go by the faith on the player that he will deliver for you. I'm happy that the Indian cricket got Mahendra Singh Dhoni because he's unbelievable."
When Mayank said that Dhoni is one of the best finishers in the history of the game, Ganguly pointed out that he is "not just a finisher', but one of the great players as well.
"One of the great players in world cricket, I would say. Not just a finisher. Everyone talks about the way he finishes lower down the order. He batted at number three when I was the captain and he got 148 against Pakistan in Vizag. It was fantastic," said Ganguly.
"I always believed that he should bat up the order because he was so destructive. The best players in the shorter format had the ability to hit boundaries at will. You look at the period of time, over the history of one-day cricket and you will see that the best players can find the fence under pressure, and MS Dhoni was one of them and that's why he was special," Ganguly further said.
MS Dhoni's highest ODI score also came while batting at number three. In the same year when Dhoni scored 148 against Pakistan, he slammed 183 against Sri Lanka, which remains his best individual score in the fifty-over format till date.
Ganguly shared the dressing room with MS Dhoni until the former's retirement in 2008. On the last day of Ganguly's Test career, Dhoni, in a wonderful gesture to India's celebrated former captain, asked him to lead the side during the final overs of the match.
