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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