There was a time when he felt that Indians were just not comfortable diving to stop a ball but South Africa`s yesteryears` fielder-par-excellence, Jonty Rhodes, says the current Team India is full off “brilliant” fielders who have taken their standard to a new level.
Rhodes, who is the fielding coach of reigning IPL champions Mumbai Indians, said his opinion of Indian fielders not being up to it has changed. “You see the current Indian team and it is full of brilliant fielders, not afraid to dive around. The Sri Lankans have always been agile fielders but in recent years the Indians and Pakistanis have taken their standard of fielding to a new level,” Rhodes told the IPL`s official website ahead of the seventh edition of the event starting tomorrow.
“Good fielding is no more just the monopoly of countries like Australia or South Africa. It has become an integral part of most cricket teams.”
Also in IPL, if you see some of the greatest catches taken, it will not feature only the international players. A number of young Indian domestic players have pulled off stunners, and that, excites me,” added the South African, who became a sensation for his sheer agility on the field during his playing days.
Rhodes said younger members of the team like Virat Kohli have succeeded in emulating some Australian techniques in fielding. “Virat, for instance, catches the ball with reversed cup (finger pointing skywards). Now, he has been exposed to international cricketers from a young age and that it is possible he has picked that technique up,” Rhodes explained.
“I personally feel that technique helps you get under the ball well and move your feet more briskly. However, there is no one way Ravindra Jadeja is a brilliant fielder and he catches the ball with straight cupped hands,” he said.
Asked if improving standards are making the fielding coach`s job tougher, Rhodes said, “In these times the players cannot hide in the field and so you need all your players to be good fielders. The expectation of the captain becomes high and hence a fielding coach`s job becomes more challenging.”
Rhodes said fielding is toughest in the Test format even though T20 is considered a young man`s game. “Test cricket! No doubt about it. Sometimes, the whole team has to sit in the dressing room for two days as your batsmen go on and on. At other times, it gets tiring spending hours in the field and the energy levels dip. In the T20 format, I can pep the boys up by telling them, `Come on! It`s only 120 balls` but motivating them to field for five hours straight can be difficult.
