Jonty Rhodes bats for ‘incredible’ Valley

Srinagar, February 24 

Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, who has been to Kashmir three times, has appeared in a promotional video for Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, urging people to visit the “incredible” Valley for its “amazing” hospitality and tourist places.

“This is my third visit to Kashmir.... I have done heli-skiing in the past and I learnt to snowboard on the hills right behind me,” Rhodes says in the 72-second video shot in the famous skiing resort of Gulmarg this winter.

Impressed by the local hospitality and the wide range of activities that can be undertaken in Kashmir, Rhodes is planning to visit the Valley again.

“Apparently, it is an incredible place to be here in summer, very green. Amazing things to do, good activities.

“I am not a person who likes to sit very still. So, may be something I got to do in the very near future is to come back to Kashmir and spend some time in Gulmarg in the summer when I can go mountain biking or fishing,” said Rhodes, who has been associated with IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

“It has been incredible, the hospitality has been amazing and, fortunately, so has been the food,” he added.

An official of the Tourism Department said Rhodes was recently in Gulmarg as he was a keen rugby enthusiast.

“Rhodes had visited Kashmir twice in the past and when we conducted the Snow Rugby Championship in Gulmarg recently, he came down to witness it,” the official said.

Asked if the Tourism Department had entered into any kind of agreement with the former cricketer for promoting state tourism, the official said Rhodes was doing it as a “goodwill gesture”. — PTI