New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) Legendary Indian all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath on Thursday said he admires Virat Kohli for the passion he brings on to the cricket field and for his brilliant performances over the years for the country.
Amarnath, one of the top all-rounders of his time and a key member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team, asked youngsters to learn from Kohli.
“The person I really enjoy watching and admire is Virat Kohli,” Amarnath said at the launch of his book: ‘Fearless: A Memoir’.
“The way he plays, the kind of passion he has been showing over a period of time, and the way he has been playing and performing, it is brilliant. I think youngsters have a lot toĀ learnĀ fromĀ him.” The book launch was graced by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Amarnath, now 74, was also pleased by the top performance of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who hit a century in the first Test against Australia in Perth to help India notch a famous win.
“I am very pleased for any youngster to come and do well because we all start as young, because when you get an opportunity, you have to grab it with both hands, which they have done it, and Jaiswal especially.
“If you see his record, it’s unbelievable, he has been very consistent, I hope this form continues and he is a very positive player which I like. Because one failure, it doesn’t make you bad, but if you have the talent, so I am sure things will only get better with time.” Asked if captain Rohit Sharma should bat as opener in the Adelaide Test, he said, “I am sure they will work it, they are in the middle of things. I don’t think they require any opinions from anybody, they know how to go about it.
“They are all experienced players and they understand the situation and the combinations and all that, so I am sure they will work it out,” said the Indian batting great, who scored 4378 runs from 69 Tests and 1924 runs from 85 ODIs between 1969 and 1989.
He also refused to compare the 1983 World Cup-winning side with the current Indian team.
“The format is different altogether, in 1983 we were playing 60 overs of a shorter version and this is a Test series we are playing. But there is a lot of talent in this team. Experience also counts.
“So I think it is a mixture of youth and experience like our 1983 team. I am very pleased the way they are playing, but I think one game is over, I am sure they will forget about it and they will look forward to the season.” Talking about the book which he wrote along with Rajender Amarnath, he said, “I am just sharing my good moments, my experience in this book and I hope that it will be useful to you.
“I have seen it all, I have seen the high, I have seen the low and all that, but I believe differently, I live for the moment. I never carried my yesterday to the next day and so that just kept me going,” he said.
“So you always have good and bad days in life, so you have to stay positive and you have to back yourself.” On the presence of Jaishankar at the book launch, Amarnath said, “I have been following Dr Jaishankar and I like him, the way he is there for us and the things he is doing for the country and the kind of person he is and the personality he has and the way he thinks.
“We are proud of him actually and I am very thankful that he took time off to come, it is not easy for a busy man like him. I couldn’t have picked anybody else better than Dr Jaishankar to come and launch my book.” Jaishankar, on his part, said, “I say this at the risk of embarrassing him, but he (Amarnath) was really the legend of our times. I couldn’t have imagined that one day I’d be sharing a stage with him.
“He started his Test career in 1969. I was in school at that time. And in fact, the team that he played against, I happened to see the match in Delhi, which we happened to win at that time.
“But from 1969, when any of us thinking about Indian cricket, I think nobody has any doubt that 1983 was the inflection point. And he was not just the inflection point, but he was the man of the match of the inflectionĀ point.” PTI HN PDS PDS SSC SSC
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