Born on July 16, 1968, Dhanraj Pillay made his hockey debut in 1989 at the Allwyn Asia Cup. He played in the positions right-out and centre-forward, weaving magic with his hockey stick.

Pillay is the only hockey player to have played in four Olympic Games, four World Cups, four Champions Trophies and four Asian Games.

He has played more than 330 international matches for India. In those games, Pillay scored 170 goals.

It was under Pillay's leadership that the men's team won the Asian Games in 1998 and Asia Cup in 2003.

Pillay netted 11 goals in the 1998 Asian Games to steer India to the gold medal. Pillay was the top scorer of the Games and was included in the Asian All-Star team.

He was the only member of the Indian squad to be included in the World Eleven side of the 1994 World Cup at Sydney,

To honour Dhanraj Pillay, the Indian government presented him with the civilian award Padma Shri in 2000. He is also the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, which was awarded to him in the year 1999–2000.