[Watch] Ravi Shastri presents best fielder medal to Rishabh Pant; gives emotional speech after India's thrilling T20 World Cup win over Pakistan
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri was called up by the team management to hand Rishabh Pant the medal for being the best fielder during the Men in Blue's six-run win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 in New York on Sunday, June 9. When the ODI World Cup began last year, fielding coach T Dilip started the tradition to reward sensational fielding performances in every match.
Defending just 119 runs, India had to be outstanding in the field to put pressure on Pakistan and that's exactly how things panned out. In a video posted by BCCI, Dilip is seen hailing the players for their desperation in the field.
The fielding coach also gave honorable mentions to Suryakumar Yadav for his sensational catch in the slips to dismiss Babar Azam and Arshdeep Singh for taking a swirling catch to send back Iftikhar Ahmed.
However, Rishabh Pant won the award for taking three catches, including a tough one to dismiss Fakhar Zaman. Ravi Shastri did the honour of giving the medal to the wicketkeeper.
Here's the video:
In the video, Shastri also shed light on the struggles that Pant had undergone in his 14-month recovery period after the horrific car accident that the southpaw suffered in December 2022.
The former head coach was pleasantly surprised to see Pant's quick recovery and felt that was a testament to the player's commitment.
Ravi Shastri shares his thoughts on India's win
India restricted Pakistan to 113/7 despite not being the favorites to win the game for a large part of the second innings.
Shastri reckoned that the Men in Blue's never-say-die attitude and clinching those defining moments is what helped them seal the game.
"A typical India-Pakistan game where the pendulum swings from one side to another. In the end, it is the team that seizes the big moments, holds their nerve, they come out on top," he said in the same video.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers once again, registering brilliant figures of 3/14 as the Men in Blue have almost a foot into the Super 8 phase.
Pakistan will now need to win their remaining two games with big margins and hope that the USA loses both their games to have any hope of qualifying to the next phase.