England vs India 2018: Jonty Rhodes Explains the Misery of India's Slip Cordon

You have to believe when anything comes from the horse’s mouth. Jonty Rhodes is one of the ace fielders in the history of cricket.

His dive to get Inzamam-ul-Haq run-out during 1992 World Cup was the landmark moment of his career, and for the fielders across the globe after that.

However, the story is not the same as expected in the second part. There was an ironic ending to the act of the brilliance when he flew like a bird. When asked about this special run-out from him, Rhodes said,

“I don’t know if I was bold or confused, but the truth is that my bootlaces were open, and I tripped on them when I ran out Inzamam,” Rhodes revealed at a Isuzu Motors event here on Thursday.

However, India batted poorly in the first two Tests of pivotal five-matches Test series in England. Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and all the batters performed poorly.

Though this was not all, India had been miserable in the field too. Despite being one of the bright fielding sides, India could not address the slip woes that they are facing.

In the Edgbaston Test, Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan spoiled three easy chances in the slip cordon. Jhonty Rhodes came up with a technical explanation to address the grooves of the slip cordon.

As per statistics, India has dropped more catches than they have caught in the slip cordon from 2014.

The technical aspect shared by Jonty Rhodes

The great itself came up with the technical element that is behind the poor fielding of India in England.

“So, the key difference for me is that when you practice catching a cricket ball during practice…you don’t have time to think on a cricket field. Thus, you start thinking about a ‘drop.’ The majority of balls in India, because of the low bounce, whether you’re fielding in the slips or covers, the catches come between your knees or the ground. Most of the catches are taken with your fingers pointing down. But we South Africa and Australia, because of the extra bounce, are accustomed used to catching the ball with the reverse cup fingers.”

Jonty Rhodes who was the fielding coach of Mumbai Indians in the IPL said it was not easy for him to do coaching. He noted it was difficult to change the technique of the Indian players.

Overnight change is not possible

Rhodes believes that overnight change in the slip cordon is not possible and after getting replaced, they were reversing their method then.

“I worked with the (Indian) players in the IPL. You change somebody in six weeks, after four weeks they start changing. But a year later, you come back and notice that they’re still back to their old habits. So, it’s very difficult to change as it happens what you instinctively don’t want to do.”

Jonty Rhodes feels the team India needs to work hard to improve standards of fielding, especially in the slip region.

“My father had drilled it into me that you’ve to practice like it’s a match situation,” he recalled.