Jonty Rhodes Names His Fielder’s Dream XI; Names Ricky Ponting Captain, Suresh Raina Vice-Captain

South Africa’s legendary player and ace fielder Jonty Rhodes is perhaps regarded as the greatest fielder ever to play the game of cricket. He inspired a generation of cricketers who loved to field and make acrobatic dives and saves after seeing his remarkable run out of Inzamam-Ul-Haq in the 1992 World Cup.

Jonty changed the way teams looked at fielding and ensured it was given equal importance as batting and bowling. He was part of the first South African team that played international cricket on return from apartheid ban in 1991 and continued to wow his fans and fellow cricketers until the 2003 World Cup, after which he called time on his cricket career.

Rhodes is currently the fielding coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS) and is known for his love of India and recently shared his fielder’s dream XI, which included 11 of the best fielders in the world as picked by Jonty Rhodes himself.

Ricky Ponting Captain And Suresh Raina Vice-Captain Of My Fielder’s Dream XI: Jonty Rhodes

During a media interaction on Thursday, Punjab Kings’ fielding coach, Jonty Rhodes who is in India for the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) was asked to choose a captain and a vice-captain for his Dream 11 of the world’s best fielders.

In reply, Rhodes picked former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who was known to be at par with Rhodes in terms of fielding and athletics on the field, apart from being a safe catcher, as the captain of his dream XI. He then named India’s Suresh Raina as the vice-captain of his Dream 11 of the world’s best fielders, so that he could bring in different inputs and insights.

“I would make Ricky Ponting the captain because not only was he a brilliant fielder but a fantastic captain too. And then I would make someone like Suresh Raina the vice-captain because he has spent so much time in Indian conditions. Ricky Ponting, he played a lot in Australia where the fielding conditions were slightly different. For me, Raina is the vice-captain as he would have different inputs and insights. I hope I am also a part of the Dream 11 but my captain and my vice-captain would be Ricky Ponting and Suresh Raina,” Rhodes was quoted as saying by timesnownews.com.

He further said that as Punjab Kings fielding coach, he was happy with the way the team fielded in IPL 2020 but said there is always room for improvement.

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