Former Protea Jonty Rhodes is “very impressed” by the work ethic the Mumbai Indians’ rookies displayed at a training camp in Durban last week.

Rhodes a member of the Indian Premier League franchise’s management, spent the last few days honing the fielding skills of the younger players in the Mumbai team. He worked closely with fellow former Protea Shaun Pollock, who too is a consultant to the Indians.

“The majority of the players we worked with will fit around the four overseas professionals and four Indian internationals so they are quite young and their skills are very Indian specific,” Rhodes said.“But they showed great enthusiasm and were very keen to throw themselves about. They watch a lot of international cricket and do not subscribe to old theory that India does not have a fielding culture. I was very impressed by how much they wanted to learn and absorb.”

There is a growing belief among the IPL franchises that teams with a strong South African influence will have the edge in this year’s tournament because of it being relocated to the Republic.

So with the two Proteas legends on the payroll of the Mumbai Indians, does Rhodes believe his team will start with an advantage over the seven other franchises?

“Shaun is going to be invaluable to the team. There’s no doubt about that. He just has such a calm demeanour in the dressing room.

“Even when it was thought that the tournament was going to be held in India, and Shaun was still considering whether to come back for another year, the Mumbai management made it very clear they wanted him back,” Rhodes said.Although appreciating Pollock’s involvement, Rhodes was, however, quick to dismiss the assumption that South African players will automatically be the stars of the second IPL season because of their knowledge of the conditions.

The leading South African player in the Mumbai Indians team is JP Duminy, who was signed for $950 000 while Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya also played domestic cricket in Durban for the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins in 2009.

“International players adjust very quickly today. Most of the guys in all the teams are experienced international cricketers. They play all over the world and have learnt to adapt very quickly,” Rhodes said.

“Take a guy like Dwayne Bravo. He plays for the West Indies in the Caribbean, where each island has different conditions, and he has learnt a lot on how to adapt all over. His experience will be very valuable.”

The Mumbai Indians will kickstart the IPL against last year’s finalists, the Chennai Super Kings, on Saturday, April 18 at Newlands

Source – iol.co.za