The Indian cricket team continued their tradition of awarding the ‘Fielder of the Match‘ after defeating the 2023 ODI World Cup champions Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday. Fielding coach T Dilip presented four candidates for the medal – Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Virat Kohli. Former head coach Ravi Shastri was invited to present the award and received a warm welcome in the Indian dressing room.
“It’s a pressure game. You are by far the best team in the tournament so far. Individual brilliance will only take you to a certain level but it is the collective team effort that will take you across the finishing line when champions play. Today two champions were playing, a pressure game, character show, team effort. Flashes of brilliance in the field always make a difference. Normally, it’s the turning point,” Shastri said in a video posted by the BCCI.
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A humorous moment occurred when Shastri called out “Dilip!” while searching for him, even though Dilip was standing right beside him with the medal.
“And the heavyweight medal, it’s heavy. It goes to Shreyas Iyer,” Shastri announced as he presented the medal.
Iyer has shown consistency throughout the tournament in both batting and fielding. He took a catch to dismiss Ben Dwarshuis and executed a crucial run-out of Alex Carey, helping restrict Australia to 264 runs.
The run-out came in the 48th over when Iyer ran from deep backward square leg, collected the ball cleanly, and hit the stumps at the wicketkeeper’s end to dismiss Carey. Carey’s departure after scoring 61 runs from 57 balls was significant, as his continued presence could have pushed the target beyond 270-280 runs.
Gill, one of the contenders, saved three runs with a diving effort in the first over and caught Travis Head while running in the outfield. Jadeja demonstrated exceptional fielding off his own bowling, continuing despite a bleeding hand after removing the taping.
Kohli’s fielding contribution included catches to dismiss Josh Inglis and Nathan Ellis, along with saving crucial runs. He later scored 84 runs and was named ‘Player of the match’.
