When Gautam Gambhir refused to take Man of the Match award
Jul 14, 2016 at 5:00 PM
It was an ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in 2009. India was chasing a huge target set by Sri Lanka. India lost both of their star openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag cheaply.
Gambhir and Kohli stepped up and put up a record partnership of 224. Both of them completed their centuries. Though Kohli was dismissed on 107, Gambhir remained unbeaten at 150. As expected, Gambhir was awarded the Man of the Match at the presentation ceremony. He didn’t deny it though but he called young Virat Kohli and shared his award with him for his tremendous display of a character at a crucial stage. it was Kohli’s maiden ODI century. “Gambhir wants to share the award with Kohli,” Ravi Shastri announced in front of the cheering crowd.
The 150 scored in this match remains Gambhir’s highest score in ODIs till date.
On his 224-run third wicket stand with Virat Kohli, that propelled India to a seven-wicket victory at the Eden Gardens, Gambhir said “it was a very important partnership. We were chasing 315. it’s always good to have a partnership in such situations.”
Kohli said he played his natural game. “I am happy that the team won. I was never under any pressure. Our partnership was crucial. We complemented each other.”
Here is the video of that presentation ceremony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqkU-E5Moyk&feature=youtu.be
Gambhir gave his man of the match trophy to Virat Kohli because he thought that it will boost Kohli’s confidence since Kohli was then new to international cricket then. And truly after that, Kohli never looked back.
Stand-in captain Virender Sehwag praised Kohli and other youngsters in the team and said he was happy to finish the series in Kolkata.
It’s been a long time this happened. And a lot of things have changed now. Gambhir is no more in the Indian team. Virat Kohli is the next big thing in Indian cricket, if not, World cricket. Gambhir and Virat not going along that well after we witnessed a couple of mishaps between them which no Indian cricket fan would’ve wanted to see. Life has changed drastically for both the players long after the overwhelming incident.