Former India skipper MS Dhoni is regarded by many as one of the best cricketers to play the game of cricket ever. The CSK skipper is without doubt one of the most successful captains the world has ever seen and he has achieved a lot in his illustrious career. In this article, we will talk about the man who discovered MS Dhoni and helped shaped his career when he was growing up. Dhoni’s first cricket coach was Keshav Ranjan Banerjee and he was the first person who spotted Dhoni’s talent when he was studying at Jawahar Vidya Mandir in Ranchi.

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It is a well-known fact that Dhoni wanted to become a goal-keeper and it was Keshav Banerjee who suggested Dhoni to become a wicket-keeper and he then groomed Dhoni to become a wicketkeeper-batsman. Keshav Banerjee once said in an interview that whenever Dhoni comes to meet him, he prefers not to talk about cricket and spends his time talking about the sports activities of the school.

In MS Dhoni’s biopic, the role of Banerjee sir was played by Rajesh Sharma and the actor aced the role with this perfect Bengali accent. Keshav Ranjan Banerjee is still coaching students and he is popularly known as ‘Banerjee Sir’ in Ranchi.

 “Earlier I used to get players from higher classes only but now they are learning from class 6 onwards. I have a bigger pool of players to choose. Players like Dhoni are rare. I cannot produce another Dhoni. These kids are very talented but most of the parents now want their wards to be next Dhoni. I don’t have any magic wand. But kids work very hard taking inspiration from Dhoni and I am sure they will be successful and make me feel proud," Banerjee once said in an interview to Indiatimes.