What made Ganguly keep Dhoni in the team after the initial failure of Dhoni?

 Sourav Ganguly came across dhoni while playing the Challenger trophy in 2004 and was impressed with his big hitting in the net.Dhoni scored a hundred hitting Ashish Nehra out of Wankhede Stadium.He was selected in the Indian team soon and made his debut in December 2004.

At that time Ganguly wanted another big-hitter in the team to help the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and himself. Ganguly thought that MS Dhoni could be the match-winner he was looking for.

Ganguly had a tremendous habit to give many young budding players an opportunity to perform and Mahender Singh Dhoni was one of them.Ganguly was known for backing his players when they needed him the most. For example, Virender Sehwag used to bat as a middle-order batsman for India. It was Ganguly, who promoted him and gave him the opportunity to open the innings for the team and later he went on to become the most successful opener India ever had after Sunil Gavaskar.

Ganguly always believed one or two matches cannot define a player.For a player to perform you have to give him fair bit of chances to express himself. The list includes L. Balaji, Gautam Gambhir,Yuvraj singh, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Karthik and several others. These players have gone on to become champions of the game. Had it not been for Sourav Ganguly, these players might not have become the legends that they are today.

Dhoni failed in his first four matches scoring 0, 12, 7* and 3.It was thenGanguly decided to give Dhoni a chance at No.3 for 3-4 matches.Ganguly left his spot of No.3 in the next match Dhoni was sent up the order to No 3 against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam and proceeds to smash 148 off 123 balls and since then there was no looking back for him.

In the words of Ganguly,"I tried to take the fear of failure away from individuals. Identifying the right talent is important too. And you need to allow them to express themselves. Once you create that atmosphere of taking the fear of failure away from any individual, you allow him more chances to succeed."That was the Ganguly mantra during his tenure as a captain.Ganguly always believed in giving chance to youngsters and he even gave up his batting positions to fit in a player.

So it was not only for Dhoni but it was Ganguly specialty to back up players and give them enough chances to showcase their skills.Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him, and transforming the Indian team into an aggressive fighting unit.

Which character of Dhoni drives you crazy?

 His calmness.

It's so unreal. You can't expect a person to be cool for 24 hours and I am sure Dhoni had moments where he completely lost it but whenever we see him on screen his calm and cool nature just looks unnatural and this character of Dhoni drives me crazy.

Let's look at some moments.

• India Vs Sri Lanka, world cup final, 2011.

Dhoni finished it off in style and we won the world cup after 28 years. Dhoni hit that winning shot! But look at his face.

Even after winning a world cup he didn't lose his calmness. He was the captain, he hit the winning shot, he should be the one dancing and celebrating but he chose to see his players celebrate.

This is his only picture with the world cup in Indian jersey. He didn't even pose with it, just gave it to his team.

• Ind Vs Sri Lanka, Celkon Cup, 2013.

During this tri- series of India, Sri Lanka and West Indies Dhoni was ruled out due to injury. But he made an entry with a bang in the final. With only 1 wicket in hand Dhoni finished the match.

Any celebration? Nope. Just a smile and a hug with Ishant Sharma.

One important part of this match I would love to mention, if you have seen this match's video in YouTube, you can hear him say let's meet the opponents.

His respect towards the opponents is simply amazing.

• India Vs Bangladesh, T20 World Cup, 2016.

Who can forget this match and it's nail biting end. Each and every person was screaming and celebrating and then there was this guy. Ice man!

• RPS Vs KXIIP, 2016.

2016 was the worst phase of MS Dhoni's IPL career. But no one can forget that last match with Punjab where he scored 23 runs off just 5 balls in the last over. Can you believe! 23 runs. He proved his critics wrong and slapped his haters with his bat, but did he celebrate?

No.

• India Vs Pakistan, Champions Trophy, 2017.

India losing to Pakistan was one of the biggest traumas of 2017. Now I am sure many people remember this Pakistani guy shouting “Who's the father now”, players were walking into the dressing room and he kept on shouting. Finally Shami lost his cool and confronted him.

But then Angel Dhoni appears.

Stops Shami from creating a scene.

Now, Dhoni is strong enough to beat the shit out of that guy howling but he chose what gentlemen do :) ( not attacking any Pakistani, please maintain peace ).

• Celebrity Clasico, 2017.

A charity match between Bollywood stars and Cricketers. He scored two goals that night and what was his celebration?

Nothing. Scored the goals, ran to his position.

• India Vs Sri Lanka, ODI match, 2017.

Sri Lankan fans started throwing bottles when their team was losing and this is how Dhoni reacted.

“Call me when you want to finish the match” - Mahendra Singh Dhoni

His favourite celebration? Just a smile (And this is exactly why I am going crazy).

His calmness (whether he wins a match or loses a match) always remains the same and it's impossible for a normal human being to stay that calm so guys don't try this at home, there is a reason we call him captain cool.