This season I have a big responsibility (captaining KXIP) and I am ready for the challenge. I am not looking for anything else. It (India comeback) will happen if it has to,”

Ravichandran Ashwin

mentor Virender Sehwag too has said that he wanted a bowler to be the leader.

“I see it as a natural progression having played cricket for so long at the top level. I have always felt I had it in me to be captain. It is really exciting,” said the tweaker from Tamil Nadu.

Ashwin might have the experience of playing 57 Tests, 111 ODIS and 46 T20 Internationals but is forever a student of the game. And that is why, he is hoping to learn from 16-year-old spin sensation from Afghanistan, Mujeeb Zadran.

“I have heard great things about him and I am looking forward to bowling alongside him and hopefully and learn a trick or two from him,” he said modestly.

Ashwin added that it will be a different experience playing for a team which is not Chennai Super Kings, who will return this season after serving a two-year ban. He played seven seasons for CSK from 2009 to 2015.

“It was special to play for CSK all those years but now it is about doing the job for the team which went after me in the auction. All I can say is that it will be special to go back and play at Chepauk,” he said, hoping that the Chennai crowd will continue to back him even though he will be in the opposition camp. MONACO:VIRAT Kohli’s aggression was a “little over the top” in the recent tour of South Africa but it is all a part of his development as a charismatic India captain, feels former Australia skipper Steve Waugh.

India enjoyed decent success in the 58-day tour, during which the side lost the Test series 1-2 but clinched the ODI and Twenty20 series 5-1 and 2-1 respectively. Kohli’s stellar performance with the bat was among the biggest positives to be drawn from the gruelling sojourn.

“I have seen him in South Africa and I feel that he was little over the top. But that’s a learning thing for a captain,” Waugh said on the sidelines of the Laureus World Sports Awards here.

Waugh said Kohli needs to strike a balance given that not all players in his team are as expressive as he is.

“As a captain, he (Kohli) is still developing and needs some time to pull in his excitement factor and emotions but that’s the way he plays,” he said.

“I think he just needs to get a bit aware that everyone in the side can’t play in that fashion. Someone like (Ajinkya) Rahane and (Cheteshwar) Pujara are very calm and quiet guys so he needs to just understand that some players are different,” Waugh added.

“At times he probably needs to tone his aggression down and at times he needs to lift it, so he needs to work it out what’s right.”

The Australian great, however, insisted that he has immense respect for Kohli the player.

“He (Kohli) is leading very well right now. He has that charisma and that X-factor and so he wants all the rest of the team to follow him. He wants the team to play positively all the time and win as quickly as he can,” observed Waugh, who is here as a Laureus Academy member.

“They have got a very good win record in the last couple of years in all forms of the game. Virat has high aspirations from his team. He wants to be no.1 across all formats which is difficult to do these days.”

Kohli and India have now set their sights on conquering England and Australia, India’s upcoming two big Test challenges later this year.

India will play a five-test series in England in August and September and are due to tour Australia for four Tests in the summer of 2018-19.

But Waugh feels it would be easier said than done and Kohli would be key to India’s success in Australia.

“Australia will be favourites in Australia because we have got such a great record, just like India in India. Virat (Kohli) would obviously be the key in Australia. He played amazing in Australia last time,” he said.

“India are a very confident young side and they are playing with great confidence and passion that their captain believes in. They believe they can win in Australia no doubt.”

He, however, said India will have decent chance as the pitches in Australia will be more familiar to them this time around.

“To be fair, the pitches will suit India more than the past because the pitches are very benign at the moment,” Waugh said.

“So they will definitely suit the Indian batsmen and the spinners will come into action more. So I think it would be a very competitive series.”

Despite the Test series loss in South Africa, India have managed to retain the ICC Test Championship mace for the second consecutive year but Waugh feels there isn’t much difference between the top three sides -- India, South Africa and Australia.

“They are a very competitive side, they cover all positions well. So, I think India, South Africa and Australia are right now three sides who are very similar in quality and they will fight it out for the No 1 position in the next couple of years,” he said.

Talking about Kohli’s predecessor M S Dhoni, Waugh said he is looking good enough to carry on till World Cup.