The Forgotten BCCI Talent Hunt That Discovered MS Dhoni, Raina and Ishant Sharma

The Mumbai Cricket Association's new Talent Resource Development Wing has revived interest in the BCCI's pioneering TRDW, the system that unearthed MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and several future India stars.

BCCI TRDW MS Dhoni (Image Source: Google)

Recently, the Mumbai Cricket Association created a Talent Resource Development Officer (TRDO) Wing and appointed former Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil as its first chairman. Similarly, former India cricketer Laya Francis will be chief of the Women’s wing of TRDW.

The TRDW is considered an important step towards finding cricket’s raw and new talent. TRDW is not a trademark, but in Indian cricket, mere mention of it or TRDO straightway takes to BCCI and the pioneering work done by former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar as the first chief of BCCI’s Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW). It was an excellent initiative and helped to discover new talent from all corners of the country.

This system, during its existence from 2002 to 2006, brought cricketers such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh and many others from obscurity to centre-stage.

It’s surprising that despite best results and finding wonderful performers, through the scheme, BCCI discontinued it. It was such a fruitful initiative that in 2015, the BCCI’s newly constituted advisory panel of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman had recommended the revival of the Talent Resource Development Officer’s (TRDO) wing. The BCCI kept the issue burning for months and at last didn’t revive it. The aim of the revival was to transform BCCI’s National Cricket Academy from just a rehab centre to an actual nursery of the brightest talent in the country, decentralizing the NCA and starting zonal academies instead. Unfortunately, this vision didn’t impress the BCCI.

The cue was, however, taken by the IPL franchisees, and they redefined the role and called it talent scouting and player development. The inflow of unheard and uncapped talent straight to the IPL, bypassing the BCCI system of finding new talent is proof of the success of the process. Vaibhav Suryavanshi is the best example.

The TRDW was created by the BCCI in 2002 (when its president was Jagmohan Dalmiya) and this initiative was suggested by administrator Makarand Waingankar. Dilip Vengsarkar was appointed its first chief (on a handsome salary of Rs. 15 lacs pa).

The project involved appointing former cricketers and coaches as Talent Resource Development Officers (TRDO) catering to each zone, to spot local talent, looking beyond the established cricketing centres. This diminished the role of local state cricket associations in recommending names for national level selections. The TRDO discovered the talent and recommended to the BCCI directly to fast-track the grooming of players for national team duty via the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the best talent discovered by TRDO.

Makarand Waingankar first tried this process in 2001 with the Karnataka State Cricket Association. The BCCI chief and former ICC Chair, Jagmohan Dalmiya, decided to replicate it for Indian cricket and within a few days the TRDW was set up with Dilip Vengsarkar as the first chief, assisted by Brijesh Patel.

Twenty Talent Resource Development Officers (TRDOs) were appointed, to watch local junior matches around the country, rate the players on a uniform objective scale, and report directly to the National Junior Selection Committee and the National Cricket Academy (NCA), bypassing the state cricket associations.

Today no one remembers that a TRDO named Prakash Poddar, former captain of Bengal in the 1960s, saw Dhoni playing for Jharkhand at Jamshedpur in 2003 and recommended him to the NCA. His recommendation reads, ‘Good striker of the ball; has a lot of power but needs to work on his wicket-keeping. Technically not very good. He is very good at running between wickets. Similarly, other talented cricketers were identified.

Unfortunately, the BCCI dissolved TRDW in 2006 after a power-shift and the removal of its head, Jagmoham Dalmiya. Thereafter, to unearth new talent, focus shifted to Under-19 cricket.

In 2009, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) set up a TRDW adopting the BCCI model of the scheme and brought Makarand Waingankar to implement it. It’s a different story that the then KKR coach, John Buchanan, looked at the scheme as a challenge to his authority and worked very fast to ‘pack’ it.