As India celebrates series win vs. South Africa Sai Sudarshan was rewarded for Klaasen's screamer after KL Rahul's selfless act.
After a brief pause, post-ODI World Cup, where India's ritual with the post-match fielding medal ceremony had quite the glitz and often became the talk on social media, the Men in Blue have resumed the act yet again. On Thursday, after India's impressive 78-run win in the ODI series decider against South Africa at Boland Park in Paarl, the team management named the winner of the impact fielder of the series medal, and while captain KL Rahul emerged as the leading contestant, the senior wicketkeeper-batter was humble enough to give the medal to youngster Sai Sudharsan, who had made a debut in this series.
Although Sai failed to emulate the show in the third match, he made it up with a brilliant catch en route to India's series win.
Watch the video here.
In the 33rd over of the second innings, as Heinrich Klaasen looked to ably assist David Miller in taking South Africa past the 297-run target, the batter was deceived by a slower one from Avesh Khan. The length ball on off had stopped on Klaasen as he looked to drive and chip it over mid-off, and hence he failed to execute to his fullest. The ball ballooned off the bat, and just when it was dying on Sai at mid-off, the Indian made a full-stretch dive to take a screamer.
After the match, as the team assembled in the dressing room, fielding coach Ajay Ratra mentioned that while there were a lot of notable catches to select from, he eventually picked wicketkeeper Rahul, who took six catches during the series. The former India batter, however, mentioned that it was Rahul who insisted that Sudharsan should be given the medal.