DHARAMSHALA: After the end of the five-match Test series against England, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah handed over the ‘Fielder of the Series’ medals to Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav.
While announcing the winner, Indian fielding coach T Dilip said that throughout the series against England, Indian players displayed “extraordinary commitment” while fielding.
He added that to give more “flavour” to the tradition of handing over the ‘Best fielding’ medal, this time there will be “two medals”.
“I think the entire series we showcased extraordinary commitment on the field. The energy, perseverance and sheer willpower were displayed by each and everyone and magnificent effort. Before the start of the series, we spoke about maintaining the tempo and momentum throughout. And captain spoke about that 1% factors. I think you all embrace the challenge with open arms. Well done, guys. This time around we have added one more flavour to our tradition instead of one, we are giving two medals now. The reason being in Test cricket, the brilliance of a catch and also relentless effort on the field… We thought that it was equally important to recognize and reward those efforts,” T Dilip said while announcing the medal winner.
The Indian fielding coach also hailed Shreyas Iyer for being “brilliant” while fielding in the first two matches of the series in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
“Shreyas [Iyer] is not here but in the initial games, he was brilliant on the field with his catches… he made a lot of difference. Kuldeep was a revelation on the field with his relentless effort and outstanding effort… [Shubman] Gill, Rohit [Sharma], and Dhruv [Jurel] crucial grabs at important times of the match. Showed your reflexes, anticipation played an important role…,” he added.
While naming Gill, and Rohit as the impact fielder winners, Dilip said that it was a “tough choice” to select between the star cricketers for whom they were “sharing the award”.
“It was a tough choice to select between two people because both took equal catches. So the first time ever, we are sharing the award and the first impact field award goes to Gill and Rohit… Lastly, a new award which is the relentless award… this award goes to the person who has been running around from fine leg to fine leg helping our team with the strategy, Kuldeep Yadav,” he added.
India defeated England by 4-1 in the five-match Test series. In the fifth and final match, the hosts sealed a massive win by an innings and 64 runs over the English side. (ANI)