Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa cricketer, has urged India’s ODI captain Shubman Gill to lean on experienced teammates like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Rhodes believes that embracing support from senior players will enhance Gill’s leadership while allowing him to maintain his unique style. Since taking over the captaincy from Rohit in October last year, Gill has achieved a mixed record, winning six matches and losing six, resulting in a 50% win rate. Rhodes emphasized that seeking advice and opinions from seasoned players is not a sign of weakness but rather a key component of effective leadership.
However, he revealed that his most cherished personal memory came a year later in Mumbai, during a match against the West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium. “That run-out at the World Cup launched my career. “Obviously, as the leader and the captain, you have to make the final choice. That’s often the hardest thing about captaining so many experienced players, they all give you great options, but you now have to make the call. So, having the likes of Rohit and Virat in your setup, and Shubman has been pretty consistent in his energy levels, the way that he conducts himself as a captain, and prior to that, as a player, it’s all very consistent. If you play at the coast, it’s different to playing in Johannesburg or Pretoria, where altitude affects it. Similar to what we’re trying to do with the ETPL, bringing cricket into Europe, we’ve also got Namibia and Zimbabwe, who are co-hosting the Cricket World Cup. People suddenly took notice of fielding.
Because when you’re under pressure, you always revert back to who you really are, “As long as he’s not trying to be anybody else, which is impossible,. Because what is impacted in the field is often the altitude, “It’s interesting. Rhodes, currently the co-owner of the Rotterdam Dockers in the inaugural European T20 Premier League, noted that teams travelling to Southern Africa for the 2027 tournament, to be co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, will need to adapt quickly to varying conditions across venues. Widely regarded as one of the greatest fielders in the history of the game, Rhodes gained global fame for his iconic diving run-out of Inzamam-ul-Haq at the 1992 World Cup. But I think the most amazing day for me in the field was when we were playing at Brabourne Stadium at CCI in 1993, the Hero Cup. South Africa were playing against the West Indies, and there were 20,000 people in the crowd.
He’s gotten to that stride very quickly,” Rhodes told JioStar.
