Former Proteas batsman Jonty Rhodes has applied for the post of Indian fielding coach.

Rhodes worked with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League for several seasons and is eligible for the post despite a lack of coaching experience with an international team.

‘Yes, I have applied for the position of India’s new fielding coach. My wife and I love the country, and it has already given us so much – we have two children born in India. I have spent nine seasons as MI fielding coach based in Mumbai,’ Rhodes told CricketNext.

‘I have seen incredible growth in athleticism and fielding ability in India over the past five years and really respect what has been achieved. I like to think there are a few elements that I can add to what they have already achieved. I have spent two years away from high-performance coaching and have spent most of my time focusing on development and grassroots coaching.

‘I am a coach who loves coaching and let’s face it, the Indian cricket team is the busiest in the world, so it is a great opportunity to be busy and doing what you love among players and a team that I really respect.

‘I have seen from my time in India that parents don’t let their children take many risks, and my vision would be for the Indian team not to just be the team with lowest drop-catch percentage, but also the team with highest half-chance opportunity taken.’

The Board of Control for Cricket in India recently extended the contracts of head coach Ravi Shastri, assistant coach Sanjay Bangar, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar, but only to the end of October 2019.

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