Two years after the Atlanta Olympics, India won the Asian Games gold medal at Bangkok (1998) under his captaincy. Pillay was the top scorer there with 11 goals. The elusive continental crown came after a gap of 32 years. Collectively, it all catapulted him to the top of the popularity charts. He had attained an unenviable image of being the most popular sporting stars in India. He was a veritable crowd puller.
However, it was not smooth going for him after the milestone. Moscow Olympic gold medal-winning captain Vasudevan Baskaran, the then national coach, braved resistance from the authorities in recalling the sidelined Pillay for the 2000 Olympics. By then the player had many run-ins with the authorities on various issues.
With 262 caps against his name, and figuring in the World Cup and Asian Games three times, he was easily the most experienced player when he travelled to the Sydney Olympics.
Contrary to record, history and stardom, Dhanraj was not selected to lead the Sydney Olympic team, his third Games campaign and evoked intense debate. However, the team was one of the best prepared. It lost the semi-final by a hair’s breadth.