Indian Cricket has performed tremendously in the League matches of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 by winning all their 9 matches whether batting first or second Indian team won all their matches comfortably. Interesting thing was seen in this World Cup was Best Fielder Medal ceremony in Dressing Room. The only time the Indian team was found struggling was in their very first match against Australia in Chepauk Stadium. In that match, India lost 3 wickets with just 2 runs on board. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli soaked the pressure resulting in India winning that match by 6 wickets.
Introduction of Best Fielder Award
Indian Cricket team’s Fielding coach T Dilip introduced the Best Fielder award/ medal. Starting from the India vs Australia match, in every match medal was given to one who has performed really well on the field or taken a superb catch. In every match, the winner was decided amongst 3 or 4 contenders. After matches, a proper “Best Fielder Award” ceremony was held. What makes it interesting is the way of revealing the winner of the particular match.
Read Also : Who is Ishan Kishan’s Girlfriend? | Aditi Hundia, Ishan’s Gf?
Healthy Competition
This lifted the morale of the Team and increased Healthy competition between players to make extraordinary efforts on the ground for the Medal. During the match also players were seen acting to get medals. This must have helped the team to keep their bond very strong resulting in India winning all their matches in the League stage.
Matchwise Best Fielder Medallist
| Match | Winner |
| India vs Australia | Virat Kohli |
| India vs Afghanistan | Shardul Thakur |
| India vs Pakistan | KL Rahul |
| India vs Bangladesh | Ravindra Jadeja |
| India vs New Zealand | Shreyas Iyer |
| India vs England | KL Rahul |
| India vs Sri Lanka | Shreyas Iyer |
| India vs South Africa | Rohit Sharma |
| India vs Netherlands | Suryakumar Yadav |
| India vs New Zealand (semi final) | Ravindra Jadeja |
Match 1: India played against Australia in Chepauk on 8 October with a high prediction that guests might win this match. Virat Kohli took the superb catch of Mitchell Marsh of Jasprit Bumrah’s ball being the first one to grab the Best Fielder Medal. While Chasing 200 India’s start was contrary to expectations. But Rahul and Kohli took the responsibility leading to the First Victory.
Match 2: Shardul Thakur grabbed the second medal from Virat Kohli for taking an excellent catch of Rahmanullah Gurbaz at Fine Leg. India beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets at Arun Jaitely Stadium, Delhi.
Match 3: India vs Pakistan was played on 14 October in which KL Rahul took a splendid catch of Imam ul Haq of Hardik Pandya’s ball. Before that ball, Hardik Pandya was seen talking to the ball. People started saying that the incident was “Hardik Pandya Mantra/ Black Magic”. With a 7-wicket victory, India comfortably chased a 192-run target.
Match 4: Ravindra Jadeja took the catch of Mushfiqar Rahim and became the fourth one to get the Best Fielder medal. India defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets with a dramatic Virat Kohli century in MCA Stadium, Pune.
Match 5: India vs New Zealand dramatic match was played in Dharamshala. Fog disturbed the match for a while but was scenic. Virat Kohli missed a century by 5 runs as he was in the same situation as a Bangladesh match. Shreyas Iyer took the sharp catch of Devon Convoy becoming the fifth one to receive. The winner was declared by DRONE CAMERA.
Match 6 : In Ekana Stadium, using beautiful light show KL Rahul was declared Best Fielder. India defeated England with 100 runs margin. Mohammad Shami outplayed English batters. Indian team start was not good but Captain Rohit Sharma lead from the front scoring 80+ runs.
Match 7: By taking Sadeera Samarawickrama’s catch Shreyas Iyer regained award. India bowled out Sri Lanka for 55 runs winning match with huge margin of 302 runs. People called it repeat telecast of ASIA CUP 2023 Final.
Match 8: With Comfortable win on South Africa, Rohit Sharma grabbed medal for Best Fielding efforts. Robo camera also called Buggy selected Rohit out 4 contention.
Match 9: India played their last match with Netherlands in Chinnaswamy, Bengaluru. On big screen Suryakumar Yadav won Best Fielder contention. India’s top batters performed. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul scored centuries. With this India won all of their league matches.
Match 10: India played semi-final against New Zealand in Wankhade stadium, Mumbai. Virat Kohli broke record of his idol Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli scored his 50th ODI century surpassing Sachin’s record of 49 centuries. Shreyas Iyer also scored century helping India to reach 397 run total. Mohammad Shami took 7 wickets restricted New Zealand to 327 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was given Best Fielder award.
India vs Australia will be played on 19 November 2023 in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Australia defeated South Africa in 2nd Semi Final by 3 wickets. India will be looking forward to take revenge of 2003 World Cup Final.
