IPL 2020 | Prospect of working with Kumble and Rahul enticed me to take KXIP job, reveals Jonty Rhodes

03/09/2020

Jonty Rhodes, who was appointed as the fielding coach of Kings XI Punjab ahead of the new season, has revealed that the opportunity to work with Kumble and KL Rahul drew him into taking the job. Rhodes is an experienced IPL campaigner, having been the fielding coach of Mumbai Indians for 10 seasons.

In a desperate attempt to turn around their fortunes in the tournament, having not qualified for the play-offs since 2014, Kings XI Punjab, this season, have resorted to overhauling their coaching setup. After parting ways with Mike Hesson, the franchise decided to rope in legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble as the head coach and, alongside him, also brought in big names Andy Flower and Charl Langeveldt as the assistant and bowling coaches respectively.

But apart from that, the franchise also made a valuable coup in the form of Jonty Rhodes, appointing the South African as the side’s fielding coach. Rhodes, who is an experienced campaigner in the IPL, having been the fielding coach of Mumbai Indians for no less than 10 seasons, replaced Craig McMilan in the role, after the franchise decided to do away with the Kiwi after just one season. And according to Rhodes, it was a no brainer to say ‘yes’ to Punjab, purely due to the prospect of working with coach Anil Kumble and captain KL Rahul, both of who he admires and respects.

“I did not approach Kings XI Punjab, I got a call. Because it was Anil Kumble and he was in charge, I quite happily said yes. I really like the way he works. He is a thinking man's cricketer. He is someone who has played top-level cricket, but with a real brain around, away from cricket too. And I think you need that. If you're going to be a head coach or mentoring a team, you got to be more than just a cricketer,” Rhodes told Sporstar.

“And I've been loving watching K. L. Rahul. He has been playing some superb limited-overs cricket. His stats in white-ball cricket have been really good because he plays good cricket shots. He maximises the power play, not because he stands and bashes it but he cuts the ball straight and is devastating. He’s been consistent because he has just played good cricket.”

The 50-year-old, who is currently playing in the Road Safety World Series, also revealed that he is excited at the prospect of working with someone like a Chris Gayle, who he believes will be an interesting character to work with. Rhodes further asserted that his focus will extend beyond just fielding and revealed that he hopes to make a difference at the grassroot levels by the time he parts ways with the franchise.

“Yeah, I think it's just a different environment. Working with someone like Chris Gayle is going to be something exciting. He is such a larger than life character, not just as a cricket player but as a human. He's an incredible man. So, I am looking forward to working with him. I've worked in teams against him, where he frustrated us as the opposition guy who smashed us around.

“I think coming back into the IPL, I've been focusing on grassroots and development cricket. So hoping by the time my time is up with Kings XI, I can be adding more than just to the IPL franchise. I want to make sure that we're growing the game in that area too so that you get young local players and future stars for Kings XI.”