Ravichandran Ashwin believes Virat Kohli is one of the greatest skippers in cricket

Team India is on the verge of making a history in the rainbow nation as the visiting side leading the six-match ODI series 2-0. It is expected that the Men in Blue will be able to break the jinx of not winning a series in South Africa this time around. Indian spin bowling star Ravichandran Ashwin, who was with Indian Test side, hailed his captain Virat Kohli as a shrewd leader.  Ashwin believes Kohli is one of the greatest skippers in the history of cricket.

While speaking to the scribes on the eve of Tamil Nadu’s opening match against Gujarat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ashwin expressed his thought on captain Kohli. “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 is good because the players know what is required of them. It gives an amazing amount of intensity to the team,” Ashwin told reporters after the Group ‘C’ match.

Talking about his performance in the Test series, Ashwin said that he had achieved what he wanted to. However, a few more wickets would have been nicer. “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.

The toss would have made a massive difference

Meanwhile, India lost the Test series by 2-1 but Ashwin believed it was a closely contested series and the result was often on the line. “I feel the series was very very close and it was on the line. In fact, even at Cape Town and Centurion till the last ball was bowled we probably were in the game. Probably, Centurion a little bit earlier. I thought we played really good cricket,” Ashwin said.

“On both the occasions, if we had won the toss it would have made a massive difference. As a team, we really played well in South Africa. It gives us a lot of impetus going into the England series,” he added. While talking about India’s historic win at Johannesburg Test, Ashwin said that the visitors deserve to win. However, he refrained himself from commenting on his absence from the Johannesburg Test.