“It’s unfair,” ex-Pakistan spinner felt robbed after MS Dhoni received Man of the Match award for dropped catches

Ajmal feels that instead of Dhoni, he should have been given the award for bundling out India cheaply.

“It’s unfair,” ex-Pakistan spinner felt robbed after MS Dhoni received Man of the Match award for dropped catches

MS Dhoni (Image via Twitter)

Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal opined that former India captain MS Dhoni did not deserve the Man of the Match award during a match between the two arch-rivals. He was talking about his fifer when Pakistan and India faced each other in the third ODI in Delhi in 2013.

Ajmal feels that instead of Dhoni, he should have been given the award for bundling out India cheaply. It’s worth noting that the Pakistan spinner has never won any Man of the Match trophy in his career despite at point, he was World No. 1 in both ODIs and T20Is.

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“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 matches, took away the Man of the Match award. It’s unfair,” Ajmal said on the Nadir Ali podcast. “A performer 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.”

In that match, Ajmal bagged five wickets for 25 runs while restricting India to 167 runs and not 175. Dhoni was the top scorer for India, scoring 36 runs and not 18 and he also produced a stumping. India were able to defend their 168-run target to win the match by 10 run.

Related: WATCH: Joe Root exhibits great reflexes to pull off a stunning catch at short leg during second Ashes Test

Saeed Ajmal’s stats for Pakistan

"It's unfair," ex-Pakistan spinner felt robbed after MS Dhoni received Man of the Match award for dropped catches
Saeed Ajmal (Image via The Indian Express)

Saeed Ajmal, who is the fifth fastest to 150 Test wickets, made his debut in 2009 against Sri Lanka. But before this, a year earlier he made his ODI debut at the age of 30. In 35 Tests, Ajmal has scalped 178 wickets, while in 113 ODIs and 64 T20Is, he picked up 184 and 85 wickets.

He last played an international match back in 2015 in a T20I against Bangladesh. Notably, he is one of the four Test bowlers to have scalped more than 100 wickets in the longest format after making his debut after the age of 30.

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