Saeed Ajmal’s viral clip has resurfaced across social media this week. The former Pakistan off-spinner, speaking on the Nadir Ali podcast, accused MS Dhoni of stealing his Man of the Match award in the 3rd ODI at Delhi in January 2013. Ajmal claims Dhoni scored 18 runs, dropped two catches, and still walked away with the award while Ajmal himself took a five-wicket haul.
The problem: three of those claims do not match the scorecard.
Saeed Ajmal:~ “MS Dhoni got the MOTM award for scoring just 18 runs & dropping 2 catches. What a shameless decision!!” ๐คฏ๐ค
Ajmal:- โWhen we played against India, I took 5 wickets, and India set us a target of 167 runs. Dhoni scored only 18 runs in that match. After that, ourโฆ pic.twitter.com/iVDDTLuNOy
โ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ_๐ต๐ฏ (@Boom_093) September 10, 2026
Ajmal was the ICC’s No. 1 ranked ODI bowler at the time. He had held that position since November 2011 and would keep it until December 2014. His figures in Delhi, 9.4-1-24-5, remain his career-best in ODIs. On pure bowling performance, no one came close to him in that match.
“But the Man of the Match award went to Dhoni, despite him scoring only 18 runs and dropping two catches, while I had taken a 5-wicket haul and still didn’t receive the award. I feel like this was a kind of injustice toward me.”
Saeed Ajmal, Nadir Ali podcast, July 2023
The grievance is real. The numbers are not.
India batted first and were bowled out for 167 in 43.4 overs. Ajmal ripped through the middle and lower order, dismissing Raina (31), Ashwin (0), Jadeja (27), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2), and Ishant Sharma (5). Five wickets for 24 runs in 9.4 overs. An economy rate of 2.55 on a pitch where India’s top order had already collapsed.
Pakistan needed 168 to win the series 3-0. They never got there.
| India (167/10, 43.4 overs) | Pakistan (157/10, 48.5 overs) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhoni | 36 (55) | Misbah-ul-Haq | 39 (82) | |
| Raina | 31 (60) | Nasir Jamshed | 34 (64) | |
| Jadeja | 27 (39) | Umar Akmal | 25 (50) | |
| Yuvraj | 23 (23) | Hafeez | 21 (31) | |
| Bowling | Ajmal 9.4-1-24-5 | Bowling | Ishant 3 wkts, Ashwin 2, Bhuvi 2 |
India won by 10 runs. This was also Mohammed Shami’s ODI debut. He picked up one wicket, catching Ajmal off his own bowling with Dhoni taking the catch behind the stumps.
Dhoni scored 36 off 55 balls. Not 18. He was India’s top scorer in a match where no one else crossed 31. He dropped one catch, not two. It was Misbah off Jadeja’s bowling. Dhoni also stumped Umar Akmal off Jadeja and caught Ajmal off Shami.
Ajmal also said India scored 175. India scored 167. These are not small differences. Halving the captain’s score and doubling his drops turns a debatable decision into an outrage. The viral clip works because the misremembered version sounds far worse than what actually happened.
None of this means Ajmal did not deserve the award. He took 5/24. That is a match-defining spell regardless of which team won. The question is why the jury ignored it.
Why Dhoni Got the Award
Cricket Country reported in January 2013 that the MOTM decision was controversial even on the night it was announced. A former cricketer on the commentary jury admitted the award was given to “boost Dhoni’s morale at a time when Team India is struggling.”
That is not how a performance award is supposed to work. Pakistan had already won the series 2-0 going into this match. India needed something to salvage from a home series loss. Dhoni, as captain, top-scored and kept wickets in a successful defence of 167. The jury weighed narrative over numbers.
“What is the meaning of a Man of the Match? A person who has the best performance in a game should win it, right?”
Saeed Ajmal, Nadir Ali podcast, July 2023
Other contenders were also overlooked. Ravindra Jadeja scored 27 runs, took Umar Akmal’s wicket, and fielded sharply. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two early wickets to put Pakistan on the back foot at 0/1. Ishant Sharma took three wickets in the middle overs. All of them had strong cases. Ajmal’s was the strongest.
The pattern is consistent across bilateral cricket. MOTM awards in home series almost always go to a player from the winning team. A bowler from the losing side needs something extraordinary, a hat-trick or seven wickets, to override that default. Five wickets for 24 runs should have been enough. In Delhi, in a series India had already lost, it was not.
Insider Read
MOTM in bilateral ODIs is not a statistics-based award. It is picked by a commentary panel, usually three or four former cricketers, in the minutes after the match ends. There is no formal criteria. No weighting system. No obligation to explain the choice.
What happens in practice is simple. The panel leans toward the winning team. The captain gets extra credit for a successful chase or a successful defence. Wicketkeeping contributions, which do not show up in batting or bowling figures, get factored in loosely. In Dhoni’s case, his 36 was the highest score in a low-scoring game, he kept wickets for 48.5 overs, and India won. The panel saw enough. Ajmal’s 5/24 was the better individual performance. But the jury system is not built to reward the best individual performance. It is built to reward the most convenient narrative.
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