The dressing room ‘fielding medal’ tradition continued in the recently concluded five-T20I series in Zimbabwe. Instead of giving the fielding medal after every match, a medal for the best fielder in the series was awarded to Rinku Singh after India’s 4-1 series win at Harare Sports Club on July 14.
India’s fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh showed a video message from outgoing fielding coach T Dilip in the dressing room. Then he asked National Cricket Academy (NCA) head and head coach for the tour, VVS Laxman to present the award to Rinku.
The players teased Rinku after he got the medal. Ravi Bishnoi slid a stool towards Rinku asking him to give a speech. After initial reluctance, Rinku got up and said a few words.
“Pehle to God's plan. Kaafi acha laga mujhe sabke sath khel ke. Meri 4th ya 5th series thi. To be honest mujhe batting se zyada fielding kaafi pasand hai. Fielding kaafi enjoy karta hu. Bohot maza aata hai bhagne me. Agar me ek sprint na maru to body khulti nahi hai. (Firstly, I would like to say 'God's Plan'. It was nice to play alongside everyone, I think this was my fourth or fifth series, so it was quite nice. To be honest, I did not get to bat much, but I love fielding more. I enjoy it a lot, it is quite fun. If I don’t sprint, my body does not warm up.),” the 26-year-old said.
Rinku’s batting numbers in the series
Rinku scored 60 runs from four innings on the tour. In the first T20I, he departed for a duck as India lost the low-scoring encounter. In the second T20I, got to bat at no.4 and remained unbeaten for 48 off 22 balls. The southpaw hit five sixes and two fours in his whirlwind knock as India won by a massive margin of 100 runs. He did not get to bat in the fourth T20I.
Easy win for India in fifth T20I
The Shubman Gill-led India won the fifth T20I by 42 runs. Sanju Samson scored a half-century whereas Shivam Dube contributed with a 12-ball 26 cameo to help the visitors post 167/6. Then Mukesh Kumar bagged a four-wicket haul to help India bowl out Zimbabwe for 125 in the penultimate over.
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