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Kohli best in the world: Jhulan
New Delhi Sep 16 (IANS) India woman pacer Jhulan Goswami rated men’s team captain Virat Kohli the best in the business with opener Smriti Mandhana putting the men in blue firmly in the driver’s seat against Australia in the upcoming ODI series starting on Sunday in Chennai.
“He is a phenomenal cricketer. He is the best cricketer in the world. The way he is playing and leading from the front is fantastic,” said Jhulan in India Today’s Mind Rocks Delhi event.
Jhulan, 34, is currently the leading wicket-taker in women’s ODIs with 195 scalps to her name.
“Virat should continue his brand of cricket,” Jhulan said.
The former captain said that now even the women cricketers pay full attention to fitness as it is an integral part of the game.
“We follow strict diet. We go to the gym on a regular basis. Cricket has changed, it’s become a powerful game. You need to have strength. You need to maintain good diet,” Jhulan said.
“You have to contribute in every department of the game today,” she added.
She was accompanied by the other stars from the recently concluded World Cup in England — Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy, who also agreed with what Jhulan said.
Talking about the upcoming India-Australia series, Smriti said that she doesn’t have any advice for the male cricketers but they should just go there and play with the flow.
“They have been playing exceptional cricket for the last 4-6 months. I don’t think they need our advice…they should just go with the flow, enjoy what they are doing and I’m sure they will beat the Aussies,” said the southpaw.
Veda, who is also a good friend of her fellow Kannadiga Lokesh Rahul, sounded proud of him when asked about the opening batsman and backed him and the team to succeed in the five-match ODI series and three T20Is against the Aussies.
“KL is doing exceptionally well in whatever opportunities he got to play for India. It’s very unfortunate that he gets injured or falls sick more than is expected but I think he’s going to come back strong and do well against the Australians,” she said.
“He has done well against them before and I think playing at home will be a huge advantage for us. Just nail and don’t let the Aussies come on top.”
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.