MS Dhoni was adjudged player of the match for his match-winning unbeaten 91-run knock that helped India chase down 275-run target to lift the World Cup trophy but Gambhir thought the award should have been given to another player.
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Gambhir, who himself played a crucial knock of 97, reckoned Zaheer Khan deserved the man of the match award more than anyone else.
“MS Dhoni got the award but I feel Zaheer Khan was the real Man of the Match. Sri Lanka would have scored around 350 runs had Zaheer not bowled that spell. Nobody recalls his bowling and we only talk about my innings and Dhoni’s six. Zaheer was man of the final,” Gambhir said while commentating during the Bangladesh-New Zealand World Cup match.
The left-arm pacer returned figures of two wickets for 60 runs in 10 overs but bowled brilliantly in the final and early spells to limit Sri Lanka to a par total.
Zaheer started off with three successive maiden overs before dismissing Upul Tharanga in the seventh over. He only conceded six runs in his first spell of five overs.
