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MS Dhoni, India (Source: Twitter)
MS Dhoni has only won 21 Man of the Match awards in 350 ODIs he has been a part of. For a man who has led his side to three major trophies and scored over 10000 ODI runs while completing 321 catches and 123 stumpings, that is not a huge number. However, former Pakistan star spinner, Saeed Ajmal recently recalled a specific game in a podcast where he thought he was snubbed to allow MS Dhoni to receive the ‘Man of the Match’ honours.
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He talked about the third ODI of the India vs Pakistan series of 2012 where Ajmal thought that he must have won the ‘Man of the Match’ over Dhoni. "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?”
This was not the only game where Saeed Ajmal thought he was snubbed
“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.
The Delhi ODI isn't the only game when Ajmal feels he was snubbed from consideration for the Man of the Match award. "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.