"In Virat Kohli, I see both Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting so you can imagine how good a batsmen Virat is. And with experience, his performances are improving and it's important for him to continue as captain," he added.
Mohinder Amarnath. Pic/PTI
India might have lost the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) but former all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath feels skipper Virat Kohli has done a "fantastic job" and it is important for the side that he continues to lead the squad.
A brilliant performance by New Zealand's seamers and a composed run chase by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor ensured the Kiwis made history by beating India to win the WTC final.
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Mohinder lavished praise on Kohli and added that he sees legend Viv Richards and former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting in the Indian captain.
"Virat Kohli is a great player and a very good captain also. We shouldn't be emotional, we have many expectations and when our expectations don't get fulfilled we start looking for something on which we can put the blame," Mohinder Amarnath told ANI.
"Definitely he (Virat) is doing a fantastic job and a player like him comes once in a generation. Cricket will keep on moving forward and when there are so many facilities and you play for a whole year obviously your self-confidence increases.
"In Virat Kohli, I see both Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting so you can imagine how good a batsmen Virat is. And with experience, his performances are improving and it's important for him to continue as captain," he added.
New Zealand entered the reserve day of the Final at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton eyeing victory and their bowlers delivered in style to skittle India for 170 before Williamson and Taylor steered a successful chase of 139 to secure a memorable eight-wicket win.
With India starting the day at 64 for two in their second innings, a lead of 32, all four results were still possible but the Black Caps' pace quartet of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner combined to take the final eight wickets by conceding just 106 more runs.
"Team is balanced but you need practice games to get used to the conditions. So I think maybe they didn't have the time to prepare for the WTC final but congratulations to New Zealand they are the genuine winners," said Mohinder.
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Team India on this day 38 years ago made history, as they won the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time. It was India's greatest cricketing triumph at the time, as they defeated two-time winners West Indies by 43 runs to lift the coveted trophy.
"World Cup 83 win gave the confidence as India had defeated a strong team and it was beginning of the good days," said Mohinder
"Definitely 83 win contributed to Indian cricket which we see nowadays. We performed as a unit in the tournament," he added.
The former India cricketer feels better exposure in the recent years have led to improvement of the side.
"We had great players right from the start but we didn't have the exposure. If we talk about great players like CK Naidu, my father, Vinoo Mankad in the 60s, 70s then the 80s so you see the performances improve when the exposure increases," Mohinder Amarnath signed off.
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