"I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure."
Virat Kohli declares that his friendship with players in the Australian cricket team has ended. The Indian cricketer made the comments after a heated Test series.
Before the series began, Virat Kohli revealed he viewed the Australian players as “really good friends” of his. Some of them even shared a dressing room with him during the Indian Premier League (IPL).
However, the Test series witnessed a number of heated exchanges between players of both the India and Australia teams. Tensions ran high and the series concluded on 28th March 2017. India won after a 2-1 series match.
But, when the press asked if he still felt the same about the Australian players, Virat replied:
“No, it has changed. I thought that was the case, but it has changed for sure. As I said, in the heat of the battle you want to be competitive but I’ve been proven wrong.
“The thing I said before the first Test, that has certainly changed and you won’t hear me say that ever again.”
Virat Kohli also added about the confrontations: “This team, regardless of whether we are on top or not, we speak. We take it very well and we give it back even better.
“A very wise person told me that when a person is down, the weak come out and speak about him. It takes courage to speak about someone when they are on top.”
The comments come after the Australian captain, Steve Smith, apologised after a heated final game. He said:
“I have been very intense and in my own little bubble and at times I have let my emotions, actions falter a little bit. I apologise for that. That’s something I can really learn from.”
With such a definitive statement coming from Virat Kohli, it seems Smith’s apology has come too little too late.
However, it appears that Virat Kohli may not be entirely innocent himself. Ed Cowan, former opener, reportedly told Fox Sports how the Indian cricketer had passed a “highly inappropriate” comment to him during a past Test match.
He said:
“I had a very sick Mum during one of those series and [Kohli] said something that was inappropriate.”
“Why I make the point of ‘lost in translation’, he said something that was highly inappropriate. A personal matter that was highly sensitive. Highly inappropriate.”
An umpire had to explain to Kohli the insensitivity of his remarks. While the cricketer did apologise, Cowan revealed: “There was a moment I wanted to pick up the stump and stab him.”
It will be interesting to see whether Kohli can patch things up with the Australian team soon.
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