“It Was Attitude”: ‘Special Guest’ Presents Star India Pacer With “Best Fielder” Medal

Following India’s victory over the USA, renowned World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh awarded Indian bowler Mohammed Siraj the “Fielder of the Match” medal.

Following India’s victory over the USA in their ICC T20 World Cup group A encounter on Wednesday, legendary World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh awarded Indian bowler Mohammed Siraj the ‘Fielder of the Encounter’ medal. India secured a 7-wicket victory over the co-hosts USA at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, preserving their undefeated record in the 2017 T20 World Cup thanks to a period of Arshdeep Singh and a 72-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube. Siraj’s fielding had a big influence on the game. In addition to running out Jasdeep Singh on the last ball of the innings, he made excellent catches to remove Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar from the game. A key hit came from a catch at deep mid-wicket to remove Nitish, which required him to leap backward to complete the catch.
The team’s fielding efforts and consistency over the last three games have been praised by Indian fielding coach T Dilip, who stated, “I always believe our team’s consistency is what separates from good to great.” That, in my opinion, was a prime example. We did a great job showcasing that today. Congrats on winning the first three games. I believe that every little thing we did—chasing in pairs, backing up, and visiting hotspots—was an effort. As a collective, these are the tiniest things that have a big impact.”

Every time we continue to push those boundaries, I believe it makes us better versions of ourselves. Excellent work. And it’s crucial to recognize that making tiny mistakes is normal. And the reason we are unique is that we never give up and never stop striving for excellence. And the last two games have shown us that, despite a few mistakes, we recovered quite well as a team.”Siraj, the top-ranked T20I batsman Suryakumar Yadav, and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant were the contenders for the honour. Dilip referred to Yuvraj as the “epitome of fielding excellence” when introducing him as the special guest to present the medal.”He not only made those runouts and took those catches when he was on the pitch, but it’s an attitude. Regarding Yuvraj, he continued, “And each time he went on there, it was an attitude that was willing to make a difference.”

In a brief and concise speech, Yuvraj praised the efforts of Arshdeep Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Siraj during the match against the United States of America. Before the game, Indian captain Rohit Sharma chose to bowl first after winning the toss. With Nitish Kumar (27 in 23 balls, two fours, and a six) and Steven Taylor (24 in 30 balls, two sixes) contributing vital blows, the USA put up a valiant total of 110/8 in their 20 overs. India’s two best bowlers were Arshdeep (4/9) and Hardik Pandya (2/14) respectively. Axar Patel secured a wicket as well. India lost captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant (18 in 20 balls, with a four and six) for single-digit scores in the run chase of 111. After 7.3 overs, India was battling at 39/3. The game-winning 72-run stand for the fourth wicket was then stitched together by Suryakumar Yadav (50 in 49 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Shivam Dube (31* in 35 balls, with a four and a six). Bowling-wise, Saurabh Netravalkar (2/18) was the USA’s best option.For his spell, Arshdeep was named “Player of the Match.” India has advanced to the Super Eights round of the competition after winning its first three games.