Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal cried injustice about MS Dhoni getting the Player of the Match in an ODI between the two sides when Pakistan visited India in 2012-13. This was the last time the two countries played bilateral cricket against each other.
MS Dhoni was the captain of the Indian team at that time and the Men in Blue had lost the first two ODIs of the three-match series and were playing to avoid the whitewash when the third and final ODI was played in Delhi.
India batted first after MS Dhoni won the toss and managed to post 167 runs in 43.4 overs with MS Dhoni top-scoring with 36 runs, while Suresh Raina made 31 and Ravindra Jadeja made 27 runs. For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal picked 5/24.
In response, Ishant Sharma picked three wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and R Ashwin took two each as Pakistan folded for 157 runs with captain Misbah Ul Haq making 39 and Nasir Jamshed making 34 runs.
MS Dhoni was named Player of the Match despite Ajmal’s fifer.
Former spinner Saeed Ajmal, while alleging unfair treatment, feels Dhoni did not deserve to win the Player of the Match award in this match, and said that he should’ve won the award as he had picked five wickets.
"I think it was my bad luck. I bowled India out for 175 in the third ODI – it was the only series I played in India. We won the first two matches and I bowled outstandingly well in both. In the third ODI, I got five wickets which is still my best ODI figures. What is 175? But MS Dhoni, for scoring some 18 runs and dropping two catches, took away the Man of the Match award. It's unfair.
What is the meaning of a Man of the Match? A person who has the best performance in a game should win it, right? But since India won the match, they gave Man of the Match award to Dhoni for dropping a catch," Ajmal said on The Nadir Ali podcast.
Ajmal picked two five-wicket hauls in an ODI career spanning 113 matches – one of which came in that match. However, he never managed to win a single Player of the Match in his ODI career.
A part that Ajmal got wrong was Dhoni's drop catches as there was just one tough chance that the Indian keeper couldn't cling to, which was off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. On the other hand, Dhoni took a catch to dismiss Ajmal himself and stumped Umar Akmal.
"Even against South Africa, I once dismissed four against South Africa. I may have not won a Man of the Match award but I certainly won the Player of the Series award in ODIs. I dismissed Hashim Amla in the last over when SA needed 10 runs to win in 12 balls. I got him out second last. It was the first-ever Pakistan team that won an ODI series in South Africa. In every match, I gave match-winning performances during that tour and still didn't win a single MOM award," Ajmal added.
A piece of interesting information, MS Dhoni, despite playing 350 ODIs, won the Player of the Match award only 21 times. He scored more than 10,000 runs, and scored 10 centuries with a best of 183*. He has over 300 catches and made 123 stumpings in the 50-over format.
Yet, he is way down in the list – 33rd overall and the seventh Indian.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
