Suresh Raina is my favourite fielder: Jonty Rhodes

South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes, the best fielder cricket has probably ever produced, on Friday revealed a lot of interesting facts about IPl and the Indian cricketing scene while speaking for a leading website in New Delhi. Rhodes was in the city for the launch of the selection camp of Indian Junior Players League (IJPL) T-20 Tournament. The South African talked his experiences about working with Sachin Tendulkar in the IPL, his favourite fielder – Suresh Raina and more.

Since the time Rhodes retired from the game, the fielding standards all over the world have improved greatly. The advent of the limited over cricket, especially the T20 format requires players to agile in the field all the time.

“It’s because I am the fielding coach of the world, obviously. The expectations are high. I was the best fielder because I was the only fielder. There was nobody else. It was easy to be number one because there wasn’t any second or third who wanted to dive around the field. People now know, in T20 cricket especially, the importance of saving one runs. And, that’s the key message I have for my players in the IPL – ‘Ek run just ek’. Just save me one run.”

The fielding guru has worked with almost every top level cricketer by now. There are many cricketers who were not so good fielders and later gradually improved their fielding skills working with the legend. So, Rhodes definitely knows the best fielders around personally.

So, when asked about who his favourite fielder at the moment is, he said, “Suresh Raina is my favourite fielder. Virat Kohli has got an incredible arm. He is very competitive in the field. But, as a captain, he is always thinking about different things like bowling changes and field changes. So, I think that someone like Suresh Raina he reminds me of me. If I was a player now and I had a role model from the fielding point of view I would certainly look at Suresh Raina.”

Jonty Rhodes had been associated with the IPL since its inaugural edition and has served as the fielding coach for the Mumbai Indians where he worked alongside Sachin Tendulkar. Speaking about that experience, he says, “He is quite different, I must confess. I used to like watch him bat as long as he wasn’t playing against me. Having worked with him in the IPL was incredible. Sometimes, it’s about scoring runs and the other thing is what they can offer in the dressing room. To have that sort of playing in your dressing room environment is always great.”

Players from 22 cities will participate in the Indian Junior Players League (IJPL). The tournament among four teams is organised to hunt talent in India. The former Proteas superstar, who was at the selection camp, reveals that tournament is being conducted with an aim to focus on tapping young talents from different parts of the country.

“Well, the key here is come and work with the IPL players. I always wanted to know from where the international players in India come from. It’s great to see there are platforms for budding cricketer other than the traditional ones. This tournament is a showcase and a talent hunt to give guys opportunity to young kids become next star for India.”