India, Aussies now sworn enemies

DHARAMSALA. — Indian skipper Virat Kohli said he no longer considered Australian cricketers as friends after winning a tense Test series marked by bad blood in Dharamsala yesterday.

India thrashed Australia by eight wickets yesterday to seal a Test series marked by outbursts and controversies 2-1 and underline their status as the world’s number one side.

Chasing 106 on the penultimate day of the fourth Test, opener Lokesh Rahul hit 51 not out in Dharamsala as India seized back the Border-Gavaskar trophy from Australia.

India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane (38 not out) hit two sixes in a row off Pat Cummins en route to the comprehensive win, as fans waved giant India flags and danced in the stands. India have now won seven Test series win in a row, a run that kicked off with their triumph in Sri Lanka in 2015, and includes victories over New Zealand, England and Bangladesh in an extended home season.

Skipper Kohli, who was forced to sit out the final Test with a shoulder injury, said the hard-fought win over Australia was the most satisfying of the recent run.

Kohli, who remarked before the series that he was “really good friends” with some Australian players, also said things had changed during the bitter contest between the world’s top two sides.

“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 yeah I have been proven wrong,” he said in a post-match press conference.