Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday heaped praise on Test captain Virat Kohli for displaying a winning mentality and aggression on the cricket field.

Ganguly said, “I am a big fan of Virat Kohli. He is a captain who always wants to win matches on the field and I love that passion in him. I love the attitude and aggression in Kohli. He might lose sometimes and win sometimes but you know that he is playing to win it.”

He also said, “It is also a proud moment for all to see him lead a side with such passion. I want Kohli to do better than me as a skipper. But his main challenge will be when India will tour abroad. Australia, England, South Africa will test his captaincy. All the best to him for the South Africa series.”

He added, “South Africa series will be a competitive series. They have a good team and India has recently played well in Sri Lanka. It is a long series. I always say that at home India is always a strong side. South Africa has bowling quality to take 20 wickets, India too has quality bowlers along with spinners in these spinning tracks. It will be a challenge for South Africa to hold on to their form for such a long tour. Spinner Imran Tahir is such a bowler who has experience in him and he will come handy in these conditions. It will be a challenge for South Africa too as Indians are good players of spin.”

Ganguly also praised India cricket team director Ravi Shastri for his job.He said,“Ravi Shastri has done a good job. He has done a good job in Sri Lanka. Better not to go into the debate of foreign coach or India coach. We also have good coaches and cricketers in India who wants to give time. So we have to think about them too.”

Now India will play South Africa in three Twenty20 matches followed by five One-Day Internationals and four Test matches, starting in October.