Jonty Rhodes: From Backward Point to the Boardroom
Jonty Rhodes is the greatest fielder cricket has ever produced. There is no serious debate about it. The legend began with a diving run-out of Inzamam-ul-Haq during the 1992 World Cup and grew from there until he deservedly came to be regarded as one of the greatest fielders of all time.
In an era before T20 made athletic brilliance in the field a baseline expectation, nobody fielded better in the key white-ball position of backward point, where Rhodes leapt like a salmon and stopped singles by reputation alone.
He played in four World Cups for South Africa and was part of the Proteas side that won the 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy, the country's only ICC title to date. When he retired from international cricket in 2003, he left behind a game measurably changed by his presence in it.
But Jonty Rhodes' story did not end there.
After retirement, he briefly transitioned into the corporate world before finding he could never truly leave cricket behind. The game pulled him back, and when it did, he returned as a teacher, working as a fielding coach for the South African national team, and later the head coach for the Swedish national side.
Then came the Indian T20 League, and with it, nine transformative years. Rhodes joined the Mumbai franchise in 2009 and won three titles with the franchise as part of a coaching staff that included some of the sharpest cricket minds in the world.
That was not the end of his Indian T20 League story. Rhodes returned to the league as fielding coach of Punjab and later Lucknow, his coaching philosophy extended beyond technique, as he emphasised the importance of players maintaining rhythm throughout the year and staying focused on craft over distraction.
Rhodes also carved out a parallel life as a motivational speaker, commentator, and grassroots developer, spending time building the game at structural levels rather than solely at the elite end. A man of adventurous traits, he is known to love surfing and motorcycles.
His connection to India runs deep enough that he named his daughter India, describing it as "an all-embracing culture" he has returned to time and again since 1993.
In 2026, he joined the ETPL as co-owner of Rotterdam, bringing a lifetime of accumulated wisdom, on the field, in the coaching box, and in the boardroom, to a franchise built for the long term.
For a man who spent his career redefining what was possible in the field, Rotterdam something new entirely, not a position to hold, but a team to build, in a market the cricketing world is only just beginning to understand.