The sheer athleticism of the moment left players from the Mumbai dugout, including Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma, visibly stunned, underlining just how extraordinary the effort was.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Several former cricketers and experts, including batting great Sachin Tendulkar, praised Iyer for his brilliance on the field.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The latest to weigh in was South African great Jonty Rhodes, who reflected on the evolution of fielding standards and shared his thoughts in a post on X.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\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. For a long time, I felt like the \u2018father of fielding\u2019, but watching these modern athletes with their timing and awareness on the boundary line, makes me feel like the \u2018grandfather of fielding\u2019!\u201d Rhodes wrote.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rhodes also spoke about how boundary fielding has evolved over time, noting that such skills weren\u2019t always a major focus during his playing days.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI spent 99% of my career fielding in the inner circle, and when I started working as a fielding coach, there was no focus on the modern-day \u2018hotspots\u2019 on the boundaries. It was only when I started working with Mumbai Indians and saw Kieron Pollard, and then Glenn Maxwell, performing these incredible \u2018airborne saves\u2019 on the boundaries that we started focusing on not only taking catches off balls that were already beyond the rope, but even saving the ball from going for a sixer, and forcing the batters to run only 1 or 2,\u201d the Proteas legend added<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rhodes also spoke about how boundary fielding has evolved over time, noting that such skills weren\u2019t always a major focus during his playing days.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWith impact players transforming the way that batters can continuously attack the bowling, even with the loss of 4-5 wickets, bowlers need to be backed up by their fielders, and Shreyas\u2019 spectacular \u2018catch and release\u2019 was a perfect example of that. But let\u2019s face it; when your head coach is Ricky Ponting, one of the greatest fielders in the game, it should not come as a great surprise to see such incredible feats in the field!,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\r\n\r\n