Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, who was in talks for being a part of Bigg Boss in 2011, likes the concept of the reality TV show, but doesn’t want to be confined to a house for months. “It is very interesting. But for a person like me, who finds it difficult to stay in a
hotel for two consecutive days when it is raining outside, it would be very tough to stay in a house for so long,” says Rhodes.
But since doing a TV show wasn’t ever an issue, the 44-year-old took up ‘South Africa with Jonty Rhodes’. Talking about the show — which, starting tomorrow, will be aired on NDTV Good Times — he says, “You will see me as the host and tour guide for the four winners who took part in the ‘Take me to South Africa’ contest. During our 15-day stay in the country, we had a lot of fun. Apart from exploring South Africa, bungee jumping and beach cricket were the highlights of the tour for me.”
Rhodes, who was an exceptional fielder during his playing days, feels that the current Indian cricket team has the best crop of fielders. “It would’ve been difficult to say this 10 years ago, but the present team has an amazing fielding unit,” he says. Ask him to pick his favourite from the team, and he says: “It’s hard to pick one, but I see a lot of myself in Suresh Raina. Virat (Kohli) is also deadly on the field.”
Among batsmen, he “enjoys” watching Sachin Tendulkar play. “Not so much when Sachin used to score runs against us when I was a part of the South African team, but for the Mumbai Indians, it has been great,” says Rhodes, who is also the fielding coach for the domestic T20 team.
