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Prakash Poddar, former Indian cricketer who first recommended MS Dhoni to BCCI, dies
Possibly one of the most important people to give Indian cricket the gift that was MS Dhoni, Prakash Chandra Poddar, has died at the age of 82.
Prakash Chandra Poddar, possibly one of the most important people to give Indian cricket the gift that was MS Dhoni, has died at the age of 82. Poddar, born 1940, was a former First-Class cricketer for Bengal who played 74 matches between 1960 and 1977, scoring 3836 runs with 11 centuries. Poddar was part of BCCI's Talent Resource Development Scheme (TRDS) wing back in the day serving as its officer when he spotted a young Dhoni in early 2003.
Poddar was a former Bengal captain but also represented Rajasthan making the finals of two Ranji Trophy seasons with the team. He was the third highest-run-getter during the 1970-71 season with 562 runs an at average of 70.25. After 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.
"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.
Barring Dhoni, some of the other finds of this programme were Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla. 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." Poddar then sent Dhoni's report to the NCA, after which he was selected for India A in 2003/04.
"Poddar said he had never seen a man hitting the cricket ball so hard, but he was a terrible wicketkeeper. Poddar did not like his looks with long hair. 'You will not like him,' he said," Raju Mukherjee, Poddar's close friend and a former First-Class cricketer had told Sportstar.
"I said, 'Let me have a look at him,' and I went for the Bengal-Bihar match at the Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur, the next day. Much before the start of the match, when I was talking to the Bihar coach, a man in a sleeveless shirt and long hair arrived on a bike. The next minute, I was surprised to see this man taking out biscuits to feed stray dogs. While batting, he scored about 30-40 runs, but some of hits were so forceful. One of those went out of the Keenan Stadium. I had never seen such powerful hits.”
Mukhejee paid a heartfelt tribute to Poddar confirming that he had passed on December 29. "Former Bengal captain, BCCI talent scout and junior national selector, PC Poddar left us on 29th December, 2022. For over two decades he represented Bengal and Rajasthan as well as East and Central zonal teams," he wrote in his blog.
"Extremely bright and well-informed, Poddar – Lulu-da to us, his neighbours – was an extremely good student of the game and well versed in the laws of cricket.
"His cricket was based on the firm principle of sound forward defensive technique and eternal temperament. He would play forward to almost every ball! Against bumpers, he possessed the excellent technique of either 'ducking' or 'weaving away'".
