During Punjab Kings\u2019 IPL 2026 clash against Mumbai Indians, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer produced a moment that felt both modern and inevitable. In the 18th over, with MI captain Hardik Pandya looking to launch Marco Jansen into the stands, the ball soared towards long-on. Iyer sprinted across, judged the trajectory, and completed a juggling act at the rope, catching the ball, tossing it back mid-air as he lost balance, and relaying it to Xavier Bartlett to complete a \u201cteam catch\u201d.<\/p>\n
Watching it unfold, Rhodes could not help but reflect. \u201cWatching Shreyas Iyer perform that acrobatic fielding to assist in taking the \u2018team catch\u2019 made me appreciate how fielding has evolved since my retirement,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/a> For a man long dubbed the gold standard, the shift is personal. \u201cFor a long time, I felt like the \u2018father of fielding\u2019\u2026 but watching these modern athletes\u2026 makes me feel like the \u2018grandfather of fielding\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhodes\u2019 own career was defined by inner-circle brilliance, but he admits the boundary was once an afterthought. \u201cThere was no focus on the modern day \u2018hotspots\u2019 on the boundaries,\u201d he said, before tracing the change to his coaching days with Mumbai Indians. Encounters with players like Kieron Pollard and Glenn Maxwell reshaped the approach, introducing the now-familiar art of airborne saves and relay catches.<\/p>\n In an era of relentless hitting and Impact Players, Rhodes sees fielding as cricket\u2019s last line of resistance. Iyer\u2019s effort, he believes, was not just spectacular but necessary. And perhaps, fittingly, it came under the watch of Ricky Ponting, \u201cone of the greatest fielders in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Published on Apr 18, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n