The Indian team utilized a spider-cam to announce the “fielder of the match” for the 2023 World Cup game against New Zealand in Dharamsala on Sunday, October 22. The players couldn’t contain their excitement as the spider-cam approached them and revealed the result.
Shreyas Iyer was selected as the fielder of the match for his outstanding catch to dismiss New Zealand’s opener, Devon Conway, early in the game. In the fourth over, Conway flicked a delivery from Mohammed Siraj, and Shreyas made an exceptional catch, diving low to his right from the square leg position.
India maintained their undefeated streak in the 2023 World Cup by defeating New Zealand by four wickets in Dharamsala. Despite the brilliant century by Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand was limited to 273 runs when they batted first. Virat Kohli then played a pivotal role in yet another successful run chase, scoring 95 runs off 104 balls.
In a video posted on bcci.tv, Indian fielding coach T Dilip commended Shreyas, Kohli, and Mohammed Siraj for their fielding efforts on a challenging outfield in Dharamsala.
He then indicated the spider-cam as the one that would announce the “fielder of the match.” The Indian players enthusiastically rushed out and congratulated Shreyas once the winner was officially revealed. India’s fielding performance on Sunday was far from perfect, with Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah missing two straightforward catches, and their ground fielding was also less than precise. However, they compensated for these lapses with effective bowling and batting displays.
The Indian captain gives credit to the bowlers for the team’s comeback against New Zealand
New Zealand, when batting first, had a strong position at 178/2 thanks to a remarkable partnership of 159 runs between Daryl Mitchell (130) and Rachin Ravindra (75). Nevertheless, the Indian bowlers performed brilliantly in the final stages of the innings, preventing the Kiwis from scoring over 275.
After the match, Indian captain Rohit Sharma acknowledged the outstanding comeback by the bowlers, saying:
“At one stage, we were looking at 300-plus, the way Mitch [Mitchell] and Rachin [Ravindra] batted. New Zealand put up a big partnership there. The wicket was easy to bat on, dew came in as well. But I’ve got to give credit to the bowlers in the back end to pull things back nicely. And to restrict them to 270-odd was a great effort.”
In his debut match of the 2023 World Cup, fast bowler Mohammed Shami took 5 wickets for 54 runs. Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj were also effective, each taking 1 wicket while giving away 45 runs in their 10 overs.
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