'They gave Man of the Match award to Dhoni for dropping a catch' - Former Pakistan player recalls an unfair decision made against him

Over a decade after a match in 2013, Saeed Ajmal, a former Pakistani spinner, expressed his displeasure with the way the match officials honoured MS Dhoni as Man of the Match. Ajmal was not pleased with the choice following the third One-Day International of the 2013 series between India and Pakistan.

In a conversation on the Nadir Ali podcast, Ajmal spoke about various subjects related to his cricketing career. The host stated how Ajmal used to be the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world but never took home the trophy in a 50-over competition. Ajmal also went on to discuss the contest against India from ten years ago when recalling the game where he thought that the ace spinner should have won the player of the match.

Speaking about the match, the former Pakistan player said that in that match he took a five-wicket haul and helped the visitors restrict India to a low score of 175 runs, but eventually ended up losing the game. Despite his excellent spell of bowling, Ajmal was not given the player of the match award, instead, the Indian skipper was chosen as the player of the match as India won the game.

What is the meaning of Man of the Match?: Saeed Ajmal

"MS Dhoni got the Player of the Match award in that game. Dhoni scored 18 runs and dropped 2 catches, but still got Man of the Match. So that's wrong. You tell me what is the meaning of Man of the Match. The player who performs the best in the game gets the Man of the Match," he added.

The game that Ajmal is referring to happened on January 6, 2013, in Delhi. Ajmal claimed that India had scored 175 runs, although the Men in Blue only managed 167 in the first innings. Although Ajmal claimed five wickets, MS Dhoni scored the most runs for India with a 36-run innings.

Another part that Ajmal got wrong was Dhoni's drop catches as there was just one tough chance MSD couldn't cling on to, which was off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. On the contrary, it was Dhoni who stumped Umar Akmal and also went on to take a catch to dismiss Ajmal. However, Ajmal doesn't just feel unfairly treated on the occasion of the ODI in Delhi. The star off-spinner also even against South Africa where he was brilliant with the ball but did not get any player of the match.

It is to the surprise that at one point in time in his career, Ajmal was the top-ranked ODI as well as T20I bowler, but he never went on to win a Player of the Match award in his career.