David Warner said he remains on good terms with Virat Kohli despite the India captain stating that he he no longer considers Australia cricketers his friends. Kohli had made the statement last month after being targeted both on and off the field by Australia cricketers in a fiercely-fought Test series that India won 2-1. Kohli later clarified his comments via tweets, saying they were directed towards only “a couple of individuals” and not the entire Australian team.
Warner, who was part of the Australian team, said he had a chat with the India captain during the Indian Premier League’s opening ceremony ahead of his team Sunrisers Hyderabad’s clash against Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“I had a chat with Virat,” Warner said, as reported by PTI. “We are still friends, thankfully. I had a text conversation with him which is very nice of him. As we all know, we all got jobs to do. You guys [journalists] write, right or wrong. We players...that’s how the game is. But, away from this, we are still very good friends.”
The Sunrisers Hyderabad captain said that emotions sometimes go out of hand on the field when playing for the country, but everything returns to normal eventually, especially after sharing dressing rooms with international opponents during tournaments such as the IPL.
“Sometimes on the field, we can take it too seriously and for the emotions for the next hour, we might be thinking they are not going to be anymore, this and that,” he said. “But for us, we are all going to be friends, everything is taken care. It’s a friendly environment, especially IPL and world cricket. We just love playing the game and making sure everyone is smiling.”
Warner was happy with his team’s 35-run victory over RCB in their season opener, adding that the tag of defending champions does not add any extra pressure on his side. “There is no pressure,” he said. “Last year, [there] were more individuals playing a role, one or two in each single game. This year, [to[] start the way we did was fantastic. We had self belief. It’s great to be defending champions. But we will play the way we do. Keep calm and everything will pan out the way that we do if we go on [the] field and give 100% every time.”
