CWC: Virat Kohli wins ‘Gold medal’ by team for best fielding against Australia in Chennai

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: Following India’s thrilling six-wicket win against Australia in the fifth match of the ODI World Cup at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, Virat Kohli was awarded the gold medal for best fielding by Indian fielding coach T Dilip.

In a fun behind the scenes video posted by the BCCI Kohli can be seen been awarded the medal by the fielding coach.

While giving the medal, the Indian fielding coach praised Shreyas Iyer for his excellent dive while fielding. Dilip later added that the team focuses on consistency and not just one catch but overall performance, for which he chose Virat Kohli for the best fielding award.

“In today’s game against Australia Shreyas Iyer was excellent with diving while fielding. But in our team, we always talked about consistency, it is not about just one catch but overall performance and it is not only just doing your job but backing up and encouraging other teammates to perform better. So, I think this one goes to Virat,” T Dilip said while awarding the medal.

“BTS from the #TeamIndia dressing room – By @28anand. A kind of first gold #CWC23 | #INDvAUS And the best fielder of the match award goes to,” BCCI wrote on X while sharing the video.

Kitted in their new practice colours of Orange, the Indian team appeared relaxed and confident after pulling of a fantastic win despite being in a spot of bother at the start of the second innings chase of Australia’s total of 199.

There was a lot to smile about as Coach Dravid asked fielding coach T Dilip to hand out his fielding medal.

In the first inning, Virat was magnificent in the inner circle of the field to save at atleast 20-30 runs in the field which gave the Men in Blue an upper hand on the match. Virat also took a stellar catch of Mitchell Marsh to put India on top early in the match.

Talking about the match, Mitchell Marsh and David Warner opened for the Aussies in the first inning, however, Marsh went for a duck, but Warner (41 runs from 52 balls) and Steven Smith (46 runs from 71 balls) helped Australia to make a crucial 69-run second-wicket partnership. Soon after Smith’s wicket, the Aussies failed to get a hold of the match after the Indian bowling attack showcased a stellar performance.

India’s three pronged spin bowling attack of Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravichandran Ashwin put up a magnificent inning and dismissed the Aussies for 199. Jadeja picked up three wickets. Kuldeep and Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets each. Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, and Ashwin scalped one wicket each in the fifth ODI World Cup match.

In the second inning, Australia started off well after they dismissed Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer for a duck leaving India at 2/3. However, Virat Kohli (85 runs from 116 balls) and KL Rahul (97* runs from 115 balls) made a solid 165-run partnership to clinch a six-wicket win against Australia.

In their upcoming fixture, India will square off against Afghanistan on October 11 at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.