WATCH: Virat Kohli Gifts His Jerseys To Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey After Ahmedabad Test

The four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test series came to an end on Monday (March 13) with the final Test ending in a tame draw in Ahmedabad as India won the series 2-1. The series ended on a positive note with no untoward incidents between the two sides. Former India captain Virat Kohli, who has had a ‘love-hate’ relationship with the Australian crowds, extended a friendly hand to the Australian players after the end of the Test series.

Kohli gifted his jerseys to Australian cricketers Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey after the fourth Test ended in a draw on Monday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video of Kohli gifting his jersey.

WATCH Virat Kohli gift his jersey to Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey here…

King Kohli _ had some memorabilia to give to his Australian teammates post the final Test ____

Gestures like these __#TeamIndia | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/inWCO8IOpe — BCCI (@BCCI) March 13, 2023

Kohli also apparently gifted one of his bats to Marnus Labuschagne, according to one of the travelling Australian media. Kohli, who ended his century drought in Tests with a patient 186 against Australia in Ahmedeabad, on Monday said he’s not in a ‘space where I will go out and prove someone wrong’.

The Indian batter endured a painful wait of more than three years to notch his Test century number 28, the knock helping India finish with 571 in reply to Australia’s 480 in the drawn fourth and final game. “The expectations that I have for myself as a player are more important to me,” Kohli told the official broadcasters after being adjudged Player of the Match.

“I am not in a space now where I will go out and prove someone wrong. I also need to justify why I am there on the field,” Kohli, who now has 75 international centuries, said.

“I think in Test cricket I wasn’t able to play with my tempo and template that I have played with for the last 10 years for awhile now. So that was the one thing I was trying to do. I felt like I was batting really well from the first innings in Nagpur.”

Kohli admitted he was not in his own in the Test format so he had to apply himself harder. Kohli faced 364 balls in his knock of 186 and scored only 60 runs in boundaries. It was a deliberate ploy as India had a batter short in their XI after Shreyas Iyer pulled out because of a back injury.

“We lost Shreyas to injury and were a batter short. So, we decided to play time. We focused on batting long. We focussed more on batting as long as possible for the team. I did that for periods but not to the capability that I have done in the past.

“From that perspective I was disappointed but there was belief there that I was playing well and if I got an opportunity on a decent wicket then I can make a big one,” he concluded.

(With PTI inputs)