Former South African batsman Jonty Rhodes has rated AB de Villiers as the greatest fielder of all-time. Rhodes feels that AB de Villiers’ ability to field at every position in the field makes him a fine fielder. AB has galloped some fine catches in his illustrious career and he always has been super fit, which has helped him in moving quickly in the field.
AB de Villiers’ superman catch in the Indian Premier League is well known when he jumped in the air to take a one-handed stunner at the boundary ropes. de Villiers is a livewire on the field and he can field at any position with great success. The Proteas star can also keep the wickets and did a fine job for South Africa in his career.
AB de Villiers is the best
On the other hand, Jonty Rhodes added that former Australian batsman Andrew Symonds was the first player he noticed who could field at any position in the field.
“The greatest fielder of all time? AB de Villiers. He is a wicket-keeper, he is at slip, he fields at mid-off, long-on, the guy is the greatest of all time,” Rhodes told Mbangwa in an Instagram live interaction.
“Andrew Symonds was the first guy I saw who could field at every position. He could field at the boundary as he had a strong arm. For a big unit like Symonds to dive at full length, it took good amount of effort,” he added.
Rhodes believes that AB de Villiers’ ability to read the game helps him in his fielding. As de Villiers is himself a batsman, he can successfully gauge where the opposition batsman is trying to hit the ball and thus he can move accordingly in the field.
AB de Villiers can read the game as a batsman
“I have loved Suresh Raina, but the best fielder I have seen since Jonty Rhodes has to be AB de Villiers. He just moves so well, I think someone like Ben Stokes is at all the hotspots, Ab de Villiers reads the game as well, and he is a batsman so that helps him in reading the game, from my perspective, de Villiers has to be the best fielder,” Rhodes said.
AB de Villiers has a safe pair of hands and he has hardly ever fumbled a ball. The former Proteas skipper was mostly right on the money and he is well known as a superman for his brilliant fielding skills. AB has a perfect technique and there is no doubt he is one of the greatest fielders of all-time.