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India vs South Africa: India's young opening batter Sai Sudharsan ended up winning the impact fielder medal in his debut ODI series after the Men in Blue ended up beating South Africa 2-1.

India defeated South Africa by 78 runs in the third ODI match at the Boland Park in Paarl on Thursday, December 21 to clinch their second ODI series against Proteas away from home.

Sudharsan was the top run-getter for India and second overall behind Tony de Zorzi with 127 runs in three matches at an average of 63.50

The left-handed batter not only impressed everyone with the bat on the back of two half-centuries but also took a blinder in the series decider.

 

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India's head coach for the series Sitanshu Kotak congratulated the KL Rahul-led team for the series win and also lauded the efforts of players including Arshdeep Singh, and Sanju Samson who had impactful outings.

While Samson was adjudged as Player of the Match for his magnificent century in the third ODI, Arshdeep ended up winning the Player of the Series award for 10 wickets in three matches.

Ajay Ratra, who was the fielding coach of the team for the series, mentioned the brilliance of the team on the field as the Indian players took 12 catches in the series with skipper Rahul taking six of them.

Sanju Samson took two catches as well.

Ratra said that there was a tight decision to make between Rahul and Sudharsan for the impact fielder medal and went on to reveal that the skipper insisted on giving the medal to the young opener.

 

Checkout the Dressing room BTS video here:

 
 
 
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In the third match in Paarl, Sudharsan took a magnificent catch to dismiss the dangerous batter Heinrich Klaasen who was crucial for the home side in the 297-run chase.

In the 33rd over of the second innings which was bowled by Avesh Khan, Klaasen hit it towards the mid-off where Sudharsan was fielding and the star opener dived forward to hold on to an incredible catch which saw the dismissal of the batter.

As a result, it took India 13 more overs for India to bowl the hosts out for 218 runs to wrap up the match in the 46th over.

In the three-match T20I series which ended with a result of 1-1, pace bowler Mohammed Siraj won the impact fielder medal.

Notably, the dressing room ritual was started by the regular fielding coach T Dilip during the ODI World Cup 2023 where he decided to acknowledge the commitment of fielders during the match.

 

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The likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rohit Sharma won the medal in the tournament where India reached the finals before suffering a defeat against Australia.

India and South Africa will now face off in the two-match Test series which commences on Tuesday, December 26 with the first match scheduled to be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.