Suresh Raina's fielding reminds me of myself, says Jonty Rhodes

South Africa's Jonty Rhodes made a name for himself as the world's best fielder when he famously ran out Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq in the 1992 World Cup. Overs the years, the art of fielding in cricket has improved a lot with teams focussing on fielding as much as they do on batting and bowling. However, Jonty still remains the standard to which fielders will always be compared.

When asked about who is his favourite fielder at the moment is, Jonty named India's Suresh Raina for being the most competitive on the field.

“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,” the South African ace said in an interview with The Quint.

Rhodes, who is currently in India as a mentor for the Indian Junior Players League (IJPL), downplayed his status as the “best fielder in the world” by saying, “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 run. And, that's the key message I have for my players in the IPL- “just save me one run”.

Rhodes also spoke about his experience of working alongside Sachin Tendulkar in IPL, saying that he enjoyed Sachin's batting during his stint with Mumbai Indians.

“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,” Rhodes said.