Kiran More:
"Rahul Dravid was then keeping wickets, and we were looking for a wicket-keeper-batsman who could score runs at No 6 or 7, and that is what we found in Dhoni.
We thought he was the right guy to give an opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands.
If Dhoni had not done well with the opportunities he was given, then we would be back to square one.
Dhoni came in pretty late into the team, not in the early days of his career.
He had something different about him, he had a good reading of the game.
You could see even then that he was a match-winner. I still remember he scored 60-odd for East Zone against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy final. He batted fearlessly, but at the same time he batted smartly.
I remember I went to Jamshedpur to see him bat in a game, he scored 130 something in that match against Odisha.
And when you saw him, you immediately knew that he was something special.
So we then picked him for the India 'A' tour for the limited overs matches in Narobi. He went there and dominated the whole series with his attacking batting. Then we gave him an opportunity to play for India, so that was his journey.
He worked hard to reach where he did, he understood what was needed in international cricket.
After he got that first century for India (against Pakistan in an ODI at Vishakapatnam in 2005) he never looked back.
He became an integral part of the team, he was part of the discussions in team meetings, he also gave his suggestions to coach and captain, so you could see that he had a brilliant cricketing mind.
We knew that he had a good reading of the game, which is common with all wicket-keepers. He understood the conditions very well, he knew which bowlers to use at which time.
Dhoni was very smart. He picked up a lot of things quickly when he came into the Indian team and he progressed really fast and went on to become the captain.
I remember (then coach) Greg Chappell told us back then that Dhoni will one day become the captain of India.
He got his chance in the 2007 World T20 when the top players didn't go and India won the World Cup under his superb captaincy. Ao he made an instant impact as the captain."
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