Bridgetown (Barbados): India batter Virat Kohli couldn't control his laughter when Axar Patel himself was shocked after the Indian cricket team's fielding coach T Dilip announced the left-arm spinner as one of the contenders for the fielding medal after India's Super Eight clash against Afghanistan at Kensington Oval stadium here on Thursday.
Rohit Sharma-led side put out another clinical performance in all three departments of the game to emerge victorious against Afghanistan by 47 runs.
Captain Rohit and team management decided to go with three spinners in the match as pacer Mohammed Siraj was replaced with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the line-up. This proved to be an exceptional decision as Axar Patel's cameo of 12 runs off six balls helped India to cross the elusive 180-run mark, the highest team total for India in the ongoing competition so far. Apart from his batting, he also bowled three very economical overs, conceding only five runs per over and picking up a wicket of Ibrahim Zadran, the fifth leading run-getter of the tournament.
The tradition of giving the best fielder medal after every fixture continued from the ODI World Cup 2023 to the T20 World Cup. The fielding coach Dilip praised the situational awareness from the side during the game, making no mistakes in the field. Dilip went on to reveal the nominees for the award, with Arshdeep Singh being the first contender, Ravindra Jadeja, the second contender for the award before moved on to Axar.
The all-rounder was in shock hearing his name and his eyes were wide open, eyebrows were raised, and jaws dropped open in surprise. The expression on his face left Kohli laughing. Axar had taken the catch to dismiss the dangerous Azmatullah Omarzai.
Speaking about the brilliance of Axar in the field, Dilip said, "It's someone who is very consistent in what he does, it goes very unnoticed what he does on the field, but the amount of effort he puts in the practice session, today it was the reflection of it. Very good catch, but also the intent at which he ran from position to position. It was Axar Patel."
The final contender for the award was Rishabh Pant, who took three catches during the game and registered a unique record to his name, becoming the wicket-keeper with the most dismissals in a single edition of the T20 World Cup. In the end, the award went to Jadeja and was presented by the India head coach Rahul Dravid, who was lifted by the former later.
Read More
