If I had all the money in the world, I would rather be a pilot: Glenn Phillips

New Delhi: When he is done taking superhuman catches on a cricket field, Glenn Phillips, a man of multiple interests, would love to fly planes for a living.

After all, flying has always been his passion and if he had all the money in the world, the New Zealand and Gujarat Titans all-rounder would rather be a pilot than a cricketer.

Speaking to PTI ahead of his maiden season with Gujarat Titans, Phillips also detailed how he uses his experience of playing a variety of sports in cricket, the hard work behind his gravity-defying catches, how playing in India has made him a better player of spin and why his fourth team in the IPL has already become his favourite one.

But Phillips was most animated when asked about his love for flying, not very surprisingly either.

"Yeah, it's a huge passion of mine. If I wasn't playing cricket and I had all the money in the world growing up, I probably would have ended up being a pilot, to be fair. I love being in the air," said Phillips.

"I love all the procedures around being a pilot, the radio communications, but obviously the handling of the plane itself. And I don't really know why I love it so much, but I think anybody who's into aviation doesn't really know either.

"Obviously, the feeling of flying is something that humans have wanted all the time. So, I guess I'm no different from all those people."

The 28-year-old South African-born player, who plays all three formats for New Zealand, still has a lot of cricket left in him and if he has not made enough money by his retirement, he would happily take up the pilot's job.

"I guess if it comes down to wanting to do something that I enjoy after cricket. Ideally, I'd like to be able to go into the mountains and have absolutely no need for work and do all my hobbies.

"But if push comes to shove, it means that I still need to work, piloting would be my first option on the list," said Phillips, who has flown the two-seater Cessna 152 aircraft. With cricket now taking most of his time, his flying time is limited to simulators.

Blend of natural talent and hard work has made me the fielder that I am

Phillips' remarkable reach and agility on the field can be attributed to genes and his stint as a gymnast in his growing up days.

His jaw-dropping catches, most recently seen in the Champions Trophy, are also a result of his dedication to fielding aspect of his all-round game.

"I think there is definitely a huge piece of it that comes down to genetics from a speed and agility perspective. So, I guess you can say a little bit naturally gifted, but at the end of the day, talent and natural gifts can only get you so far.

"So, the other half of it is working my butt off to try and be able to cover all my bases, to go out in the middle and understand that I've done the work. So if I do drop catches, it's not because I haven't put the effort in," said the Blackcaps all-rounder.

His left-handed grab to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan and his right-handed stunner to get rid of Shubman Gill in the Champions Trophy are fresh in the minds of cricket followers but they don't feature in Phillips' top-three catches.

"I would probably say Marcus Stoinis at the SCG in the T20 World Cup (2022). That one was pretty good, covered a lot of ground, full dive. And then I've taken a catch for Gloucester in the T20 Blast out at deep backward point.

"That was a full dive to my left after a full sprint. And that was pretty cool. And then I'm probably going to say Ollie Pope at Hagley Oval at Gully (during a Test), just because I literally couldn't get any further than that. That was the max limit I've been able to dive at," he recollected.

He never saw Jonty Rhodes go about his fielding in real time but he admires him for changing the outlook towards that facet of the game. Back home, he did not have to look far for inspiration with Brendon McCullum throwing himself in the field.

Learnings from archery, golf and padel

Learnings from archery, golf and padel

Phillips also spoke about his penchant for dabbling into other sports to become a better cricketer.

"Other sports give you an insight into not only mindset, but I guess using other parts of your body that hopefully you can use coming back into the cricket arena. I used golf to try and find patience and understand things from the longer form of the game.

"I used archery to really hone down on the process-driven piece and then brought that to cricket and understood that if the results weren't going my way, what are things that I can focus on to keep myself enjoying the game. And that became that huge process piece.

"I've gotten to padel recently. That's been a lot of fun. That's obviously learning a new skill. It always, I think, challenges me to be able to learn something different that my body isn't used to.

"And I guess that comes back to cricket. If I'm learning to play spin or learning to play a different shot, the ability to try and learn things as fast as possible goes a long way, especially in the professional game," Phillips added.