We all would remember the below incident that happened in 2013 during the RCB vs KKR match very well, but….
But, do you know once Gautam Gambhir gave his Man of the Match to Virat Kohli?
That was during the 4th match of 5 ODIs when Sri Lanka toured India in 2009. Sri Lanka posted a huge target of 316 to win after Indian stand-in captain Virender Sehwag lost the toss and was asked to bowl first.
The openers Sehwag and Sachin failed to make a hefty opening partnership and India was stuttering at 23 for 2 wickets in 4 overs. Then, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli steadied the ship by making a huge partnership of 224 runs from just 214 balls. I know you would relate this with WC 2011 final, didn’t you? But here MS Dhoni wasn’t needed to finish the match (and also was not available), as Gautam Gambhir finished the match in style with a boundary.
Virat Kohli got out after a well- deserved maiden century and Gautam Gambhir was unbeaten on 150 from 137 balls.
In the post match ceremony,
Ravi Shastri - “Gautam Gambhir is the man of the match and would receive ₹1 lakh from Sudhir Hasija, chairman of Karbonn mobiles limited”
Gautam Gambhir walks towards the chairman and says “I would like to give it to Virat Kohli”
Ravi Shastri - “Uhh? Ok. Well a gesture here by Gautam Gambhir…..He wants to give this award to Virat Kohli who’s got his first hundred in one day international. So Virat you…he can collect the phone from Sudhir Hasija, he gets the cheque, Karbonn mobile set and the MOM trophy”
If I’m right,this was his second MOM and Virat was lucky to be brought up among such selfless, encouraging cricketers like Gambhir, Sachin, Sehwag, Dhoni, Dravid, etc. We’ve seen many selfless players played/playing for our team, Gautam Gambhir is one such gem of a player. Hope this is one of the lesser known facts about Indian cricketers.
Thank you for reading
Image Source: Google