New Delhi, Jan 9: After former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon's tweets alleging match-mixing in the third One Day International between India and Pakistan and accusing the latter of losing deliberately, now the Man of the Match (MOM) award for the same game to India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has come under scanner.
Insiders have accused the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of influencing the jury of commentators to name Dhoni for the award for the match that India won by 10 runs.
Headlines Today has claimed that a senior and noted commentator received a call from a senior BCCI functionary and was clearly told to ensure Dhoni was named Man of the Match. The commentator consequently proposed Dhoni's name during the jury meeting and though there were protests, the one who proposed Dhoni's name was influential enough to ensure the decision was taken as per the BCCI's diktat, even though the announcement raised several eyebrows.
While India successfully defended a 167-run target, there were other strong contenders for the award. Despite being India's top-scorer, Dhoni had managed only 36 and was disappointing in the field, even dropping Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq and gave away a lot of extras.
The incident raises questions as to why the BCCI has been backing Dhoni unconditionally and points to a connection between persisting with Dhoni and his being captain of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, owned by BCCI president N Srinivasan.
Times of India (TOI) also quoted the sources saying Dhoni wasn't the frontrunner for the award but pipped others to the post at the last minute. Sources said the commentators who voted for Dhoni claimed that the choice was unanimous. However, one former cricketer who voted in favour of Dhoni told TOI that Dhoni was given the award to boost his morale at a time when the time wasn't doing well.
The decision so surprised some commentators – who were not involved in the decision-making – that they questioned the rationale of giving the skipper a 'consolation prize' when others deserved it more. The contenders for Man of the Match of Sunday included Ravindra Jadeja, who had scored valuable 27 runs when Indian were struggling and then bowled his spell of 10 overs giving away just 19 runs and picking a crucial wicket of Umar Akmal and also fielded brilliantly throughout the match and took a brilliant catch in the deep.
Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal was almost unplayable as he teased and toyed with the Indian batting to claim his career best ODI haul, five for 24. He was another contender. Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also in the running for his magical opening spell. Debutant fast bowler Shami Ahmed, who bowled three maiden overs right at the beginning and came back to bowl a wicket-maiden at death was also a strong contender.
Dhoni had managed to get the Man of the Match award in the first ODI in Chennai as well, for his unbeaten 113, despite Pakistan winning the match and opener Nasir Jamshed's scoring an unbeaten 101. According to sources, the Pakistan team unofficially complained to the commentators for not choosing opening batsman Jamshed as the MoM in the opening ODI match played in Chennai. Jamshed had scored a match-winning century but the award was given to Dhoni for his brilliant ton in a losing cause. The Pakistan team management felt the MoM should have gone to the winning team. And the commentators also failed to repeat the same in the last ODI when Ajmal’s performance was the most dominated one throughout the match.
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