TIL Desk Sports/ An MSD special is no longer as frequent an affair as it used to be in the early 2000s. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned back the clock once again on Sunday not just for his fans, but also for one man, who literally had to fight it out as chief national selector in 2004, to ensure that a young man from Ranchi got the nod to be part of the Indian squad for a tour of Bangladesh.
Yes, skipper Sourav Ganguly too, had a role to play in the final approval, but More had hand-picked him when scouting for a bunch of talented cricketers, who were all considered the future of Indian cricket. So, when Dhoni sent the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers on a leather hunt at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, More went back in time to 2006 when MSD would finish matches like he was taking a walk in the park.
In a battle of nerves that went down to the wire, Dhoni failed as Chennai Super Kings lost by a run on Sunday, but this was after he tonked Umesh Yadav for 24 runs off the first five balls to nearly pull off an improbable target of 26 runs from 6 balls. Dhoni’s unbeaten 48-ball knock of 84 was made of stuff that harked back the former chief selector More to a nostalgic past.
