Spotting talent was my forte, found teenager Virat exceptionally talented: Vengsarkar

He remains India's best chairman of selectors by a distance for his sheer ability to spot talent and Dilip Vengsarkar always knew that Virat Kohli was "exceptional" when he first saw the Indian captain in age-group cricket.

The former skipper's tenure as chairman of the national selection committee between 2006-08 is often cited as a bench-mark for all those who came after him as he backed a very raw Kohli and promoted Mahendra Singh Dhoni to captaincy.

"Selecting talent was my forte. I will tell you something. You might be good at spotting talent but what you do after spotting is very important. If someone is talented, you have to induct him and give him chances," Vengsarkar, who turned 64 on Monday, told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Vengsarkar believes that he was able to do justice to the chairman's post because of the time he spent as head of BCCI's now defunct Talent Research Development Wing (TRDW) which found the gem called Dhoni.

When talking about Kohli, one could sense the pride in his voice as he was the one who picked the feisty batsman after an Emerging India team's tour of Australia where the current captain was even ready to open the innings on the chairman's call. The 'Colonel' liked his attitude.

"I have watched a lot of U-16 and U-19s as TRDW chairman and watched Virat a lot during his junior cricket days. So when I became chairman of selection committee, we picked him for an Emerging Tour of Australia. I was there and when I saw him bat, I knew he is ready for big time cricket," Vengsarkar recalled.

So was he convinced that this is the guy who would play 15 years for India? Vengsarkar gave a different reply.

"You can never be sure whether someone will go on to play that long. What I saw was an exceptional talent and if you have an eye, you would know which players are more likely to succeed at the highest level.

"You need to have something extra. Virat had that," the former India captain said.

"...every selector must have courage and conviction along with eye for talent. If you are convinced about someone, you have to back him to the hilt. That's what good selectors do," he said.

Was there any pressure on him to not select Kohli, whose attitude then was questioned in all quarters?
"I don't think anybody pressurised me. I was convinced that I had picked a guy who had exceptional talent at that point of time. I knew he was a tremendous player who needed backing."
"In fact, the players I selected then gave me an idea of bench strength when I became head of selection committee. That's how useful TRDW was."