Ab De Villiers considers former South African player Jonty Rhodes as his inspiration to become a great fielder. Rhodes, considered by many as a compelling fielder of all time, gave us one of the most iconic sights in the World Cup history when he dived a full stretch and whipped off the stumps run Pakistan’s Inzamam Ul Haq out during the 1992 edition.
AB De Viliers, who was a pretty focused fielder himself, spoke about how that effort from Rhodes left a remarkable impact on him as a kid.
“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,” AB de Villiers told BBC London.
Apart from that iconic display of wicket, Rhodes went ahead to make a career out of taking sublime catches and producing thrilling direct hits that would result into a sure-shot run-out. Even though AB could never pull-off like Rhodes, the former South African captain he grew up practicing that sort of a run-out.
“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,” AB de Villiers added.
Read more such massively-hit content on Mad Over Cricket.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://madovercricket.com/ab-de-villiers-inspired-by-jonty-rhodes-to-become-a-great-fielder/&media=https://madovercricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/gettyimages-73867652-1024x1024-1.jpg&description=“I practiced that run out every day of my life. I had grass all over, blood but I had to practice that run out", said AB de Villiers about Rhodes.){kind=link}