South Africa cricket legend Jonty Rhodes believes the Indian team will only become stronger under new head coach Gautam Gambhir, and said the former opener has the ability to make an instant impact in any side.
“Wherever GG (Gautam Gambhir) goes he makes an impact, we saw this when he left the Lucknow Super Giants and went to the Kolkata Knight Riders the impact that he had,” Rhodes told at the Pro Cricket League launch event on Saturday.
“He is very much a hands-on guy and is certainly somebody who knows what he wants and speaks his own mind.
“Gambhir leaves no stone unturned, and now that he has taken over the reigns of the Indian team, they will go from strength to strength,” he added.
Rhodes, who is the fielding coach of Lucknow Super Giants, also lauded Zaheer Khan’s appointment as mentor of the IPL side.
He said Zaheer’s calm head will help the side get through tense situations during a game.
“A calm cricketing mind is what you need at the IPL level, especially in the dugout scenario. You need people with calm heads because it gets very tense.
“If emotions start to get the better of you it impacts everybody sitting in the dug-out or on the field. In such situations, it is great to have someone like Zak (Zaheer), because he brings the skills and the knowledge, and he also brings the mojo,” he said.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes (centre), and mentor Gautam Gambhir with the rest of the team during a training session. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K/The Hindu
“We have worked together at Mumbai Indians and he is technically very sound indeed.” Rumours are doing rounds that Rohit Sharma is set to replace KL Rahul in LSG.
“I spent a lot of time with Rohit Sharma at the Mumbai Indians and I am just so grateful that had I had an opportunity to watch him play there. The changes, if there are, will not be my decision and I am not worried about them right now,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes also compared young LSG batter Ayush Badoni with former Proteas batting great Herschelle Gibbs after the latter broke the record for smashing the most number of sixes (19) by a batter in a single innings of a T20 game in the ongoing Delhi Premier League.
“He is a precocious talent that is for sure, he is short so he has got a low centre of gravity. He gets under the good length deliveries he can hit it anywhere around the ground, he has such fast hands. Justin Langer was so impressed with the sheer talent that he has,” he said.
“He reminds me a bit of Herschelle Gibbs. He has tremendous hitting ability and when he matches that with calmness, presence of mind, good game plan, he will become a really tough guy to bowl to because he can play both conventional and unconventional shots with ease.”
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