Jonty Rhodes is regarded as the best fielder in modern cricket history.
One such youngster was AB de Villiers, who himself is regarded as one of the best fielders ever to play the game and speaking to BBC London's Kevin Hand for Middlesex Cricket, De Villiers revealed the impact Rhodes had on him when he was young and how he idolized him growing up.
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AB de Villiers said he practiced the iconic run out every day when growing up and braved injuries to master it. He further said he watched Rhodes pull off the stunning run-out as an 8-year-old and it had a massive impact on him becoming a cricketer.
"Jonty Rhodes was the standout. Once again, from a young age, he had the biggest impact. When I was 8 years old, I saw the run out live in the World Cup 1992. That had a huge impact on me," de Villiers said.
"I practiced that run out every day of my life. I had grass all over, blood but I had to practice that run out. I never had the opportunity to do that run out in my career. But it still inspired me so much to do special things on the field, to take catches for the team. That's the way Jonty played. That's the way I always wanted to play," De Villiers added.
While De Villiers’ 360-degree batting skills were a nightmare to opposition bowlers, the South African star did some stunning things on the field, be it taking one-handed stunners or pulling off miraculous run-outs.
"We became friends. It was a huge dream-come-true for me to just meet him. And then a year or two later, he was the fielding coach in the Proteas side. It was a bit of a blur because it was a dream-come-true to have him around. We played tennis on cricket tours. We still stay in touch. He travels the world. He is that kind of guy. He loves life. He just gets on his motorbike and rides for hours. He is a bit of a go-getter. He is still the same," de Villiers said.
Jonty Rhodes names AB de Villiers as the greatest fielder of all-time
Jonty Rhodes has heaped a lot of praise on De Villiers’ fielding skills and called him the best fielder to ever play the sport.
"I have loved Suresh Raina, but the best fielder I have seen since Jonty Rhodes has to be AB de Villiers, he just moves so well, I think someone like Ben Stokes is at all the hotspots, Ab de Villiers reads the game as well, and he is a batsman so that helps him in reading the game, from my perspective, de Villiers has to be the best fielder," Rhodes said during an interaction with Pommie Mbawnga in an Instagram live session in May.