Born on 15th July 1965, Pune's Dhanraj Pillay rose from humble beginnings to become all time great of Indian hockey. Hailing from Pune's Kirki's contontment where his father was a gardener and maintainer of grass hockey field, Dhanraj carved a niche for himself in the world hockey. He made his international debut at the 1989 Delhi Asia Cup under the tutelage of Olympian-Coach MP Ganesh and then till the Athens Olympics, he had been part of most of India's major tournaments. He was honoured with Arjuna, Padamshree and Khel Ratna awards for his services to hockey. He was face of Indian hockey for about 15 years of his international career. He topscored for India at the 1998 Asian Games, where under his captaincy, India regained the Asian Games gold after 36-year gap. He also led India to gold in the 2003 Asia Cup. He was a brilliant ball player, having an eye for gaps and setting up goals for others, selflessly. He played for now dis-banded Mahendra hockey team, and then he joined present employer Air-India. Two books were written on him.