India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin feels that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli has a fierce winning mentality and said that his positive body language always reflected on the other players.

Talking to reporters after Tamil Nadu’s opening match against Gujarat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ashwin went on to say that Kohli is now on-par with the some of the greatest captains in the history of cricket. He said, “He (Kohli) is someone who will go for a win come what may. He does not have a negative bone in his body, he always talks about a win, never about saving situations, we’re always moving ahead. It gives an amazing amount of intensity to the team.”

He further added, “This is his first series overseas as a full-time captain. I am sure all the best captains in the past too have a set of home games. He (Kohli) is already on par with most of the greatest captains that have played the game. It is best that we give credit to him.”

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Talking about the recently concluded Test series in South Africa, Ashwin said that he would have liked to have got a few more wickets. He said, “On a personal account, I would say I batted beautifully through the first two Test matches. If I had just held myself when the second new ball was taken I could have made a massive difference. I felt a little disappointment for that. But in general that was my role in the game, I had to counter-attack and I felt that way.”

He also added, “As an individual who went into that series, whatever I wanted to achieve I did achieve. Probably a few wickets lesser than I would have ideally liked. A few dropped catches, which is part of the game.”

Praising India’s performance in the final Test at Johannesburg, Ashwin said it was a well-fought game but he didn’t comment on the controversial pitch at the Wanderers. 

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Recently, Ashwin was bought by Kings XI Punjab in IPL players auctions, said he would miss playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), he elaborated, “Obviously I was a tad disappointed. I have been here for the past 10 years. Literally, I own that space at Chepauk. The cheer that I got every time I came on to bowl, I will miss that. The auction is very unpredictable and probably if you saw this auction, people were not going all guns blazing. I am a bit disappointed that I will not be turning up for CSK.”

On the prospect of turning out for Kings XI Punjab against CSK at the Chepauk, The Tamil Nadu spinner said, “It will feel lovely. I will again get a chance to showcase my skills in front of my home crowd. It has been part of my meteoric rise. It gave me a lot of momentum going into my international career. Coming back there and play against CSK, it may probably motivate me more. Let’s see how it goes.”