Indian captain Virat Kohli says he is no longer friends with Australian players and never will be following his side’s triumph in a heated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Kohli declared before the start of the series that he was “really good friends” with some of his Australian opponents, with whom he often shares a dressing room during the Indian Premier League season.

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The injured captain, who missed the series decider with a shoulder injury, has now declared that “has changed for sure” after India completed a 2-1 series win on Tuesday, ending six weeks filled with petty spats and controversy on and off the field.

When asked whether he remained friends with the Australians, Kohli 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.”

Earlier, Australian captain Steve Smith offered an apology for letting his “emotions, actions falter a little bit throughout this series”, adding the tourists were outplayed by the top-ranked Test side in Dharamsala.

Smith expressed hope last week the bitter rivals would share a beer following six weeks of acrimony. Based on Kohli’s comments that almost certainly won’t happen. The Australian captain asked Ajinkya Rahane, who led India in the absence of Kohli and is a teammate of his at Indian Premier League club Pune, about the prospect after play. India’s stand-in skipper replied he would get back to Smith.

“I have been very intense and in my own little bubble and at times I have let my emotions, actions falter a little bit,” Smith said in his post-match interview. “I apologise for that. That’s something I can really learn from.”

Kohli, who took exception to number of statements made on the field by Smith, Nathan Lyon and other Australians during the series, declared India will never “take a backwards step from anyone”.



“This team, regardless of whether we are on top or not, we speak,” Kohli said. “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.”