Asia Cup 2018: Indian players impress Jonty Rhodes with their acrobatics on the field

Former South African great Jonty Rhodes on Friday came up with some complimentary words for Team India after the latter checked Bangladesh’s free flow of runs in the final of Asia Cup in Dubai. Mashrafe Mortaza’s side was off to a flying start in the game but India did well to pull things back in the middle overs. Bangladesh were 190 for 6 after 42 overs.

Rhodes, who was known to be the world’s best fielder in his time, praised Ravindra Jadeja for his excellent fielding at extra cover which saw Mohammad Mithun getting run out at the non-striker’s end. Jadeja flew to his left to stop a shot from centurion Liton Das and then displayed an excellent presence of mind to throw the ball at the right end where bowler Yuzvendra Chahal was waiting to complete the formalities. It was a terrible dismissal which pegged the Bangladeshis back after the start they had.

Rhodes praised Jadeja’s brilliant effort

Rhodes, naturally, couldn’t hold back his praise seeing Jadeja’s superlative effort on the field. He, however, said in a tweet that Jadeja was “superb as always” and mentioned that it was something else which impressed him more. And it was about the rise of Jasprit Bumrah, one of India’s spearheads in this Asia Cup, as a player.

@imjadeja superb as always; but something special when a young player who u have watched “grow up” from raw talent to essential ingredient in #TeamIndia success @Jaspritbumrah93 #willing2learn

— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) September 28, 2018

It was in the T20 World Cup at home in 2016 that Jonty had criticised Bumrah for his fielding. In a crucial game against the same Bangladesh team in that tournament that Bumrah had a poor day in office. He spilled a catch of Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal though bowled a good penultimate over. Rhodes had asked Bumrah to join Indian Premier League (IPL) team Mumbai Indians for honing his fielding skills. Co-incidentally, Bumrah plays for Mumbai Indians of which Rhodes was a former fielding coach.

Rhodes said in his latest tweet on the Indian team that he was happy to see a young player “grow up” from a raw talent to an essential member of a successful Team India. He also praised Bumrah for his “willing to learn”. He has an impressive comeback to international cricket mid-way into the Test series against England and has taken seven wickets in three matches in Asia Cup so far.

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