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After a brief pause, post the ODI World Cup, where India‘s ritual with the post-match fielding medal ceremony had quite the glitz and often became the talk on social media, the Men in Blue have resumed the act yet again. On Thursday, after India’s impressive 78-run win in the ODI series decider against South Africa at the Boland Park in Paarl, the team management named the winner of impact fielder of the series medal, and while captain KL Rahul emerged as the leading contestant, the senior wicketkeeper-batter was humble enough to give the medal to youngster Sai Sudharsan, who had made a debut in this series.
Earning his maiden call-up for a series that lacked the presence of most of the white-ball regulars, Sudharsan was given his maiden international cap on December 17 in Johannesburg and he responded with back-to-back fifties. Although he failed to emulate the show in the third match, Sudharsan made it up with a brilliant catch en route to India’s series win.
In the 33rd over of the second innings, as Heinrich Klaasen looked to ably assist David Miller in taking South Africa past the 297-run target, the batter was deceived by a slower one from Avesh Khan. The length ball on off had stopped on Klaasen as he looked to drive and chip it over mid-off, and hence failed to execute to his fullest. The ball ballooned off the bat and just when it was dying on Sai at mid-off, the Indian made a full-stretch dive to take a screamer.
After the match, as the team assembled in the dressing room, fielding coach Ajay Ratra mentioned that while there were a lot of notable catches to select from, he eventually picked wicketkeeper Rahul, who took six catches during the series. The former India batter however mentioned that it was Rahul who insisted that Sudharsan should be given the medal.
“There were a few notable catches during the series. Overall, we took 12 catches during the contest, with KL Rahul taking six of them. Samson took two – one as a wicketkeeper and other as a fielder. And Sai took a brilliant catch today. It was a tight decision between KL and Sai. I am always tempted to give the award to a wicketkeeper, but KL was generous enough to give the award to Sai,” said Ratra in a video shared by BCCI on their social media handle.
With the white-ball campaign done, India will now shift their focus to the much-awaited two-match Test series against South Africa that begins from December 26 onwards.
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