‘Kohli insisted on fitness first’: SA legend Jonty Rhodes

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South African fielding legend Jonty Rhodes, who set the world record for taking the most catches (five) in an ODI against West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium in the 1993 Hero Cup match, has credited batting great Virat Kohli for bringing in fitness and a sharp fielding culture to the Indian team.

“(MS) Dhoni was certainly somebody who showed [the way]. He had a lot of senior players that maybe weren’t going to focus that much on the fielding but with Kohli [when he was captain], he insisted that you had to be fit because, to be a good fielder, you obviously have to be fairly robust in the field and athletic, so fitness levels were important. So, we’ve seen this evolution in the Indian team that had one or two great fielders to now a team where there’s nobody to hide,” Rhodes told mid-day on the sidelines of European T20 Premier League team Rotterdam Dockers’s jersey launch at the Cricket Club of India on Tuesday.

India’s Virat Kohli

Rhodes, 57, scored 2523 runs in 52 Tests and had 5935 runs under his belt from 245 ODIs. He also had 139 catches to his name across both formats.

Rhodes, a co-owner of the Faf du Plessis-led Rotterdam Dockers along with Bollywood star John Abraham, recalled how his record five catches were all inside the circle. “Fielding was all about me enjoying myself and just throwing myself around the field like I had been doing as a junior. The five catches here, all five were inside the circle. I didn’t catch a single one outside the circle. But nowadays, as a fielding coach, you’re always identifying the hot spots, and those are usually on the boundary,” Rhodes said.

“What the guys are doing [now] and having worked with MI [Mumbai Indians] for so long, Kieron Pollard was incredible. He was the first guy that was bringing the ball back in from outside the boundary. Fielding has evolved and what we saw 10 years ago, you could have three or four good fielders [in one team] and you could hide four or five players. These days you can’t even hide one,” Rhodes said.

Meanwhile, Rhodes, who represented SA between 1992 and 2003 admitted that the upcoming 2027 ODI World Cup to be played in SA, Zimbabwe and Namibia is the best chance for his nation to win their maiden World Cup.  

“Good timing for us, the [SA] team is playing pretty well. It’s a really exciting time. World Cup cricket is such a special occasion that everybody that comes is going to enjoy themselves. But as a South African team who are hosting, there’s a few things that we would like to settle. And one of those, obviously, winning an ICC limited overs trophy,” said Rhodes.

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