Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, considered as one of modern cricket’s greatest fielders, made his appearance as an entrepreneur at the Huddle Global summit organised by the Kerala Startup Mission in the capital.
Speaking at the event on Saturday, he recalled many memorable moments from his cricketing days to highlight the importance of practise, focus and innovation to young entrepreneurs.
Mr. Rhodes said that his focus on fielding was rooted in his desire to do better than others on the field, and it eventually became an innovation that he brought to the team. He put in quality practise to perfect his fielding and his performance really changed the way the teams started looking at fielding as an equal component, like batting and bowling.
“I loved fielding and I would fling myself towards the ball even when it was nowhere near. My teammates used to call it “TV dive” and pull my legs saying I was doing it so that my mom sitting at home could see more of me on the TV. But I never was afraid to try what others in the team never tried. So never be afraid of failures and what others think of your idea,” he said.
Mr. Rhodes also pointed out how unorthodox and bold ideas could disrupt the system by recalling the explosive opening pair of Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana, during the 1996 World Cup.
“Every other team stuck to the age-old method of building up the innings slowly by getting around 40 runs in the first 10-15 overs and then accelerating their innings later. But this Sri Lankan pair blew that strategy apart by attacking the bowling from the first ball itself. That strategy changed the nature of the game completely and they got the reward for their disruptive approach when they won the World Cup,” he said
Referring to the current World Cup, he played to the gallery saying he was wearing a blue coloured shirt to show which teams he favours.
