Dilip Vengsarkar is considered to be one of India's best selectors in terms of talent, who first recognized the talent of current national captain Virat Kohli in the age-group cricket. The 2006–2008 tenure as the chairman of this former captain's selection committee became a yardstick for selectors as Mahendra Singh Dhoni became captain while being his selector and favoured Virat Kohli.
Olympic torch exhibition closed due to increased fear of Corona
Vengsarkar, who celebrated his 64 birthday on Monday, said, 'It was my job to test the talent. You can be good at testing talent but if someone is talented then he should get a chance. Vengsarkar believes that he succeeded in doing justice to the post of chairman of the selection committee because he was associated with the Talent Research Development Department (TRDW) of the BCCI (Cricket Board of India) which searched for the talent of cricketers like Dhoni. TRDW however does not exist anymore. Talking about Kohli, Vengsarkar proudly says that he was also ready to start the innings at the behest of the Chairman of the Selection Committee on the tour of the Emerging Team of Australia. Kohli liked Vengsarkar's attitude a lot.
BCCI president Saurabh Ganguly prays for British PM Boris
Vengsarkar said, 'As the President of TRDW, I saw Kohli many times in junior cricket. So when I became the chairman of the selection committee, we selected him to visit an emerging team in Australia. I was there and when I saw him bat, I knew that he was ready for a big responsibility in cricket. When Vengsarkar was asked if he felt that after watching Kohli that he would play cricket for 15 years, he said, 'You can never be sure about how long a player's career will last. What I saw was an extraordinary talent and if you can identify the talent then you would know which player has the potential to succeed at the top level. The former Indian captain said, "You have to have some extra skills for the top level and that was in Kohli."
