Jonty Rhodes applies for India's fielding coach role

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited applications for the role of head coach, batting, fielding and bowling coach, as well as administrative manager. Rhodes is a high-profile candidate for the fielding coach job, presently held by R Sridhar.

While he has no full-time coaching experience with an international team, Rhodes spent nine years in a similar capacity with the Mumbai Indians side in the Indian Premier League, where he has worked closely with captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

In his playing days, he was regarded as an excellent fielder, often found patrolling the backward point region. His run-out of Inzamam-ul-Haq in the 1992 Men's Cricket World Cup, when he ran in from backward point, collected cleanly, sprinted and put in a dive to break the stumps, is the stuff of lore.

Confirming his application, Rhodes told CricketNext, “I have seen from my time in India that parents don’t let their children take much risk, 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."

All of India's head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach Sridhar will be in their roles till the end of India's tour of the West Indies beginning 3 August, having been given a 45-day extension after the World Cup. According to the BCCI, they don't need to re-apply for the jobs, their applications will be automatically considered.