Dubai: India star Virat Kohli bagged the ‘Fielder of the Match’ medal for his contributions in the fielding in India’s Champions Trophy last group stage win against New Zealand Sunday.
Varun Chakaravarthy’s five-wicket haul led India to 44-run win over New Zealand, finishing at the top of Group A in the tournament. They now face Australia in the first semi-final, in Dubai Tuesday while New Zealand will face South Africa in Lahore Wednesday.
Following the win, India fielding coach T Dilip addressed the players in the dressing room and lauded their efforts in the field and revealed the contenders for the best fielding honours, before training assistant Udenaka Nuwan Seneviratane handed the medal to Kohli, who featured in his landamark 300th ODI.
“We always speak about being gun fiedding unit, for me the most important thing is how you are being proactive. I thought different faces of the game; the way we squeezed in when Mitchell came in and he couldn’t get to rotate the strike. The way bullet throws came from out field…” Dilip said in a video posted by BCCI on its website.
“Coming to the contenders, the one looking like a superman and took that catch… Axar Patel. Game after game, he showed it again and the way he stamped his authority on the field, the way he mostly to the prime position and taking those catches, Virat Kohli. The way he squeezed in, putting those dives… Shreyas Iyer,” he added.
Kohli became the seventh player from India to achieve the 300-ODI landmark after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh.
However, the star batter couldn’t manage to put much impact in his milestone match as he was dismissed by Matt Henry for 11. Kohli nailed a full-blooded cut but Glenn Phillips flew to his right at backward point to pouch a one-handed stunner, leaving Kohli and fans stunned.
Shreyas Iyer top-scored for India with a knock of 79 while Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya contributed 42 and 45 respectively to take the side to 249/9 in 50 overs.
