Virat Kohli does not have a negative bone in his body: R Ashwin

Ravichandran AshwinIndia offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin today described Virat Kohli as a captain with a fierce winning mentality and said that his positive body language always rubbed on the other players Talking to reporters after Tamil Nadus opening match against Gujarat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Ashwin went on to say that Kohli is now onpar with the some of the greatest captains in the game 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 were always moving aheadIt is good because the players know what is required from them It gives an amazing amount of intensity to the team Ashwin told reporters after the Group C match This is his first series overseas as a fulltime 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 he said On the recently concluded Test series in South Africa of which he was a part of Ashwin said that he had achieved what he wanted to though he would have liked to have got a few more wickets 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 differenceI felt a little disappointment for that But in general that was my role in the game I had to counterattack and I felt that way 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 he added He also felt that the series was closely fought despite the result going 21 in favour of South Africa 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 AfricaIt gives us a lot of impetus going into the England series he added Ashwin hailed the manner in which the team played in the final Test at Johannesburg and said India deserved to win The offspinner however refused to comment on the pitch controversy in Johannesburg saying he was not part of the game Ashwin who has been picked by Kings XI Punjab in the recent IPL players auctions said he would miss playing for Chennai Super Kings CSK adding that he looked forward to play again at the M A Chidambaram stadium where he took his first steps to success Obviously I was a tad disappointedI 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 he said It will feel lovely I will again get a chance to showcase my skills in front of my home crowd That is all that matters to me It is a ground that has great memories 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 Lets see how it goes Ashwin signed offCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go