[Watch] Flashback to when Gautam Gambhir gave his Player of the Match award to Virat Kohli for his maiden international century
On this day (December 24) in 2009, former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir made an incredible gesture by giving his Player of the Match award to Virat Kohli for scoring his maiden international century.
While Gambhir had become an established member of the Indian side, Kohli was making his way, having debuted only a year earlier. The incident happened after the fourth ODI of the five-match home series against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 2009.
India led the series 2-1 but the Lankans put up a mammoth 315/6 in their 50 overs. In response, the hosts sunk to 23/2 in the fourth over with the dismissals of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
However, in only his 14th international game, Kohli showed tremendous composure and appetite for a run-chase as a sign of things to come. He scored a brilliant 107 off 114 deliveries and was involved in a match-winning 224-run partnership with Gautam Gambhir.
The southpaw smashed a majestic 150 off 137 balls, resulting in him being adjudged the Player of the Match as India completed a seven-wicket win in the 49th over.
Yet, Gambhir gave away his award to Kohli instead for scoring his maiden international ton. Here is a video of the heartwarming gesture:
It was the beginning of Kohli's dominance in World Cricket as the Delhi-born cricketer has since gone on to break several records.
The 35-year-old recently became the first player to score 50 ODI centuries, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record of 49 tons. Kohli also broke Sachin's single edition record for most runs in an ODI World Cup, scoring an incredible 765 runs in 11 games with three centuries.
Furthermore, the champion cricketer became only the second batsman, and the fastest, to 13,000 ODI runs.
Gambhir and Kohli rescued India from a similar position in the 2011 World Cup final
Less than two years after their memorable partnership against Sri Lanka in Kolkata, history repeated itself for Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. The only difference was a substantially bigger stage — the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup, against the same opponent.
Chasing 275 in the grand finale against Sri Lanka, the Men in Blue again lost Sehwag and Sachin early to be reduced to 31/2 in the seventh over. Yet, under immense pressure, Gambhir and Kohli stitched together a crucial 83-run partnership to restore the Indian innings.
Unfortunately, Kohli could not kick on this time and was dismissed for 35 off 49 deliveries to leave India 114/3.
However, skipper MS Dhoni ensured no further hiccups and played one of the best World Cup knocks with a 79-ball 91*. Their 109-run partnership took India to the cusp of victory before a rush of blood saw the left-handed batter fall three runs short of his century.
Nevertheless, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh finished the job in the 49th over to help India win their second ODI World Cup title.