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Jonty Rhodes, the Mumbai Indians coach, feels the notion that Indians are poor fielders is misplaced. “Just have a look at the last year's IPL. Someone like Rahul Dravid was really good, and Sourav Ganguly took an exceptional catch against us. He's the last guy I would have expected to dive around, but the IPL has made that happen,” said Rhodes, looking as lithe as ever.

The fielding coach sounded quite happy with the way his team was shaping up for the championship. “I have had a camp with the junior and younger player of the side and I am really well with their fielding skills. The inclusion of the players like R. Sathish and Ambati Rayudu from the ICL and Saurabh Tiwary has made us a very sharp fielding unit,” said Rhodes.

But what about the senior players? “Well, I don't expect someone like Zaheer Khan to lead the charge on the field. He's in anyways giving me what's expected of him. I want them to do as well as they possibly could,” he said.

With fielding standards always high in countries like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Rhodes predicts that this tournament is going to witness highest fielding standards. “It's going to be really intense,” he said.