While playing for Bihar, MS Dhoni caught Saba Karim’s attention for the first time.

During his 15-year international playing career, MS Dhoni progressed from an unconventional wicket-keeper batsman to one of the greatest players in Indian cricket history. He is a beloved character in Indian cricket and the most successful captain the nation has ever seen.

Everyone must start somewhere, and Jio Cinema expert Syed Saba Karim mentioned one such incident in the commentary box on the rise of MS Dhoni prior to his selection for the national squad. Karim described his initial encounter with Dhoni and how, after taking on the role of selector for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy, he learned about his skill set.” My tale is really fascinating.

MS Dhoni was in his second year of the Ranji Trophy when I first saw him.

He formerly played for Bihar. I watched him bat and keep, and I can still clearly recall that he displayed the brilliance that we later witnessed when he played lofted strokes to a spinner or a pace bowler. The footwork that one should have was a little weak, even for wicket-keeping. He was working with us on this at the time, and he was still able to recall the lessons we had taught him.

He used to talk about it when we talked on the phone. When MS Dhoni finally got going, it marked a turning point in his career. We began letting him open in one-day matches because of his powerful batting and ability to score quickly, according to Karim.

Following that, Karim talked about MS Dhoni debut series for India “A,” where his batting accomplishments persuaded the national team selectors to finally give him a shot. The rest is history, as they say. “The tri-series between Kenya, India ‘A,’ and Pakistan ‘A’ was the second turning point. Because Dinesh Karthik was joining the national team, MS Dhoni was given the chance to play. Don’t even ask about batting there; MS held the wickets well! Pak “A” batted very brilliantly in the series against us; we faced him twice.

From that point on, his career took a turn for the better, and from that point on, his name was on the map. I even recall being in Calcutta and that Sourav (Ganguly) was the captain at the time. I went to see him and urged him that the Indian team should choose this keeper since he was batting so well and was such a reliable keeper. Unfortunately, Sourav hadn’t seen MS perform before we went on our Pakistani tour, therefore he wasn’t chosen for it. However, he was after that, he continued.