[Watch] Ravindra Jadeja lifts Rahul Dravid up after winning best fielder medal in India vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup match
Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja won the best fielder medal for being a livewire in the field for the Men in Blue in their T20 World Cup Super 8 encounter against Afghanistan in Barbados on Thursday, June 20. India have made a winning start to their Super 8 phase with a 47-run victory over Afghanistan.
In a video posted by the BCCI after the match, fielding coach T Dilip was seen crediting the players for adapting to the conditions in the Caribbean, having played all their matches in the USA on a different type of outfield and having a different set of challenges.
Dilip congratulated the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja for their contributions in the field and then requested Rahul Dravid to hand Jadeja the best fielder's medal.
Here's the video:
The team had a pretty intense fielding session when they first arrived in Barbados and T Dilip heaped praise on the players for being able to execute their plans in the actual game.
India reap rewards for reading the conditions well
The game in Barbados against Afghanistan was the first for the Men in Blue in their Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup and so the opposition had a slight advantage having already played in these conditions.
However, Rohit Sharma and Co. played with an extra spinner in Kuldeep Yadav and opted to bat first, expecting the pitch to get slower as the match progressed. That's exactly how things panned out as a fine half-century from Suryakumar Yadav (53 off 28) helped India post a daunting 181/7 on the sluggish pitch.
Once Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz cheaply, they were always playing catch up and ended up getting bundled out for just 134 in their 20 overs.