Watch: When Gautam Gambhir Handed His Man Of The Match Award To Virat Kohli
Dec 5, 2018 at 2:52 PM
Gautam Gambhir, on Tuesday, decided to bring down curtains on his illustrious career. The upcoming Ranji Trophy game against Andhra, starting December 6 will be the Delhi star’s last competitive game.
Gautam Gambhir retires from the game as one of India’s most decorated openers. Having represented India in Tests from 2004 to 2016, he amassed 4119 runs at an average of 42.92 with nine hundreds and 22 fifties. In his ODI career – from 2003 to 2013 – Gambhir accumulated 5238 runs at 39.68, with 11 tons and 34 half-centuries. One of his finest knocks in ODIs came in the final of 2011 World Cup when he top-scored for India.
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India were reeling at 31 for 2 while chasing 275 against Sri Lanka. However, Gambhir’s 97-run knock set the tone for a successful chase as India lifted the World Cup after a lengthy gap of 28 years.
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Gambhir also played 37 T20Is for India from 2007-2012, scoring 932 runs at 27.41 and a strike rate of 119.02. Even in the final of the World T20I, he had top-scored for India.The southpaw had scored 75 as India beat Pakistan to lift their first and only World T20I title till date.
Another memorable moment of his glittering career came after the Eden Gardens ODI against Sri Lanka in 2009. Batting first, Sri Lanka rode on opener Upul Tharanga’s 118 to post 315 for 6. In reply, India were off to a disastrous start. They lost both their openers – Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar – for just 23 runs on the board. However, Gambhir and Virat Kohli stitched together 224 runs for the third wicket to seal the game. Gambhir scored a career-best 150 not out while Kohli scored 107.
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And what followed thereafter left one and all pleasantly surprised. After the match Gambhir was chosen as man of the match but gave his award to Kohli in a heartwarming gesture.
“When you have someone at the other end who can attack the bowling, especially when you lose early wickets, it takes the pressure off you,” Gambhir had said. “With Kohli attacking I was able to take my time to settle down.”
Well, with Gautam Gambhir recently retiring from the game, we take a look at his incredible gesture for Kohli in 2009.