Jonty Rhodes at the unveiling of the ICC Cricketer of the Year trophy in New Delhi on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi: Former South Africa batsman and fielder extraordinaire Jonty Rhodes won’t mind becoming the fielding coach of Team India if such an offer is made to him.

Rhodes said he was impressed with some of the Indian players’ fielding, but would like to take up the challenge of “turning non-athletes into athletes.

“It will be a perfect marriage as I love fielding as well as travelling to India. I will be happy to be here and impart some of the fielding wisdom I got in South Africa. It’ll great to convert non-athletes into athletes,” the 37-year-old cricketer said in the capital after unveiling the designer trophy which would be presented to the ICC Cricketer of the Year next week.

If such an offer from the Indian Board does come about, Rhodes will get a chance to do a Trevor Chappell. The youngest of the three Chappell brothers was fielding coach of both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Rhodes said there were some athletic fielders in the side like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif who can inspire young players to take up the job seriously.

“Both Yuvraj and Kaif are fantastic fielders. Tendulkar is also superb in the deep. They are role models and whatever they do on the field inspires youngsters.”

Rhodes said his side had produced several great fielders since it had always put emphasis on saving every run.

Talking on the Indian one-day team, Rhodes said the side has an awesome batting line-up, which is backed by some fine young fast bowlers, but it lacks a genuine allrounder.

“They have great batsmen and some very exciting young fast bowlers. But there is no genuine allrounder after Kapil Dev. The side is a bit inconsistent but that’s how it goes in one-day cricket.”

Hockey team gets an admirer

The Indian hockey team might have finished a dismal seventh in the Athens Olympics, but it has not lost out on one of its celebrated admirers in Jonty Rhodes.

Rhodes, a former hockey international himself, believes that the team, which taught the South Africans how to dribble, plays some exciting hockey which is unmatched.

“They play quite an exciting game. Its great to watch them in action,” Rhodes said .

Few would be knowing that Rhodes was selected in the hockey team as a centre forward for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 but he preferred to stick to cricket. Four years later, he was called for the hockey trials for the Atlanta Olympics but a hamstring injury prevented him from joining the camp.