Mumbai: Two days after his comments on his changed relationship and broken friendships with Australian cricketers, Virat Kohli has made a u-turn of sorts on Thursday as he said that his statement in the post-match press conference in Dharamsala was blown out of proportion.
While the shoulder injury ruled Virat Kohli out of the fourth and final Test, which India won by 8 wickets to reclaim Border-Gavaskar Trophy, against Steve Smith and Co, Kohli, when asked in the press conference about his friendship with Australians, said: "No, it has changed. I thought that was the case (he being friends with the Australians), 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," added the Indian skipper.
Kohli, before the first India-Australia Test in Pune, had said that no matter what happens on the field of play, he is friends with the Australians.
"I'm really good friends with all these guys off the field. I know them really well, but I know where to draw the line of friendship,” Kohli had said before adding, "When you step onto the field, I could be playing against my big brother it wouldn't matter."
However, the ill-tempered Test series, seemed to have changed the equation as Kohli indicated after the conclusion of the Test series.
But, Kohli, on Thursday, took to Twitter to clarify his stand. The Indian skipper, who has been criticised for his attack on Australians by former Australian cricketers such Darren Lehmann, Mark Taylor and Dean Jones, said that his comment was directed at a few individuals and not the entire Australian side and he continues to be in good terms with the Australians with whom he has played for his Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
