Team India won the three-match ODI series against South Africa by a margin of 2-1 on December 21 with their 78-run win in the third and final ODI, thanks to Sanju Samson's century and Arshdeep Singh's four-wicket haul.
Well, the Indian cricket team continued their customary post-series 'Impact Fielder medal' ritual after the T20I series in South Africa, and the winner of the ODI series was debutant Sai Sudharsan.
Sudharsan won the 'Impact Fielder of the ODI Series' award for his brilliant fielding in the third ODI, taking a brilliant catch to dismiss Heinrich Klassen in Paarl on Thursday.
However, the original winner of the award was Indian skipper and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, but he pulled himself out of the race and wanted to give this honor to the youngster.
India’s fielding coach, Ajay Ratra, said that a total of 12 catches were taken in the ODI series against South Africa, and the top contenders for the medal were Rahul, Samson, and Sudharsan.
Rahul had taken six catches in the ODI series, while Samson had taken two catches, one as a fielder and one as a wicketkeeper. Then Sudharsan's name came up after taking a stunning catch on Klassen, and eventually he won the 'Impact Fielder of the ODI Series' award.
Ratra said in a video posted by BCCI on X: “There were a couple of notable performances in the three-match ODI series. We took 12 catches as a team and the six alone went to our skipper KL Rahul. Two were held by Sanju Samson, while Sai Sudharsan took an unbelievable catch to get rid of Heinrich Klaasen today. The fight for the medal was between Rahul and Sai but the former decided to pull out of the race and requested to give the medal to youngster.”
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