Naman Dhir in India's dressing room (Source: @BCCI/X)
On his first senior tour outside India, Naman Dhir won the Impact Player of the Series medal, a tradition that began in the 2023 World Cup, after India’s T20I series in New Zealand.
Adrian Le Roux, India’s Strength And Conditioning coach, announced that Naman Dhir became India's new Impact Player Of The Series Medal winner, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted the entire video on social media on Monday (November 2).
Why Naman Dhir Deserved India’s Impact Player Of The Series Medal
Highly-rated Naman Dhir had a strike rate of 200 in India vs New Zealand T20Is, having made 138 runs across five innings. With that, he became the fourth-highest run-scorer in the series, after Glenn Phillips’s staggering 341 runs, Abhishek Sharma (197 runs), and Daryl Mitchell (176 runs).
More significantly, Naman began the series with two impactful knocks of 15-ball 42 and 17-ball 31. Both played key roles in India’s back-to-back victories.
Without him, India might have lost the T20I series in New Zealand, given how the hosts came back in the last two outings.
Therefore, it was a wise decision by the BCCI think tank to give Naman the award he solely deserved.
Naman Dhir's International Numbers So Far
So far, Naman Dhir has played 10 T20Is and 3 ODIs for India. In those, he batted in 1 50-over game and 9 T20Is. Thanks to his New Zealand heroics, his T20I numbers improved after early woes. He has now 176 runs at a strike rate of 214.63.
In the only ODI he had batted, Naman, aged 26, made 30 runs in 21 balls. It came against the West Indies in the third ODI and helped India reach 351/7. However, Shai Hope ruined it all, as West Indies completed a historic chase in New Chandigarh.
Naman Dhir will be keen to improve his ODI numbers going forward. He has been picked in India’s ODI squad for the New Zealand series, scheduled to get underway on Wednesday (November 4).
.jpg?type=mq "Irfan Pathan On Bhuvi's Inclusion")
