The man who introduced Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the India cricket, Prakash Chandra Poddar breathed his last at 82. Poddar was himself a former India First-Class cricketer who played a total of 74 matches from 1960 to 1977 and amassed 3836 run riding on 11 centuries for Bengal.
Poddar came across Dhoni back in 2003 when he was part of Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Talent Resource Development Scheme (TRDS) wing serving as its officer. The veteran cricketer very early sensed the potential of the prodigious Dhoni and introduced him to to the BCCI for further grooming.
"I felt that if we could regularize the way he used his power, then he would be of some value to Indian cricket. And that is why I recommended him to the National Cricket Academy. He scored 35 runs but even in that age kya maarta tha ball ko (He bashed the ball and in some way). He had raw power and I felt that if we could guide him well, he could become a good one-day cricketer," Poddar had once said about Dhoni.
Poddar was an ex-Bengal skipper but also played for Rajasthan while making Ranji Trophy finals twice with the team. The star batter scored 562 runs at a stunning average of 70.52 to become the third-highest run scorer during 1970-1971. Post retirement , Poddar worked with the BCCI at the TRDS, which was established in 2002 to fast-track young and promising Indian cricketers. Dilip Vengsarkar was appointed chairman of this panel instituted by the then-BCCI president, the Late Jagmohan Dalmiya.
DHoni wasn't the only find of the programme as beside him the other names were Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla.
Poddar saw a good striker of the ball in Dhoni, who has a lot of power but needed to work on his wicketkeeping skills.
Poddar wrote his observations about Dhoni: "Good striker of the ball; has a lot of power but needs to work on his wicket-keeping. Technically not very good. Is very good at running between wickets."
