VIRAT Kohli says he no longer counts Australian cricketers as his friends in a fiery postscript to the Border-Gavaskar series.

Having not lost a Test in 19 matches, India went into the series against Australia widely tipped to win 4-0.

Kohli, who withdrew from the series decider with a shoulder injury, described India's 2-1 series victory over the Australians as the best of his career.

As India celebrate the return of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from previous holders Australia, the overriding consensus is that the hosts maintained order between the sport's top two Test sides in a series that had everything. "It's happened before. He gets paid a helluva lot of money - so it doesn't matter - but there are certain players who will limp into IPL time, to make sure they get there and perform well because it is an important tournament for everyone around the world", Hodge added.

"Knowing Virat he would have never done that and these people, look if you want to be in the headline you can say anything you want and it's just about making a headline or trying to get your name in the press by making such statements".

"The horizon has changed with the development of the limited overs formats but Test cricket has held on to its own even 140 years after it was first played". But in a hard-boiled series, where silently working out the opposition was at a premium and loud ego tussles were the norm, Rahane's calm was what India needed to win the most. Smith marked the series as one of the best he has played and praised Indian team for their efforts. By contrast, England's form dissipated at the first roadblock.

When Steve Smith apologised for his banters against the Indian team during the recently concluded four-match Test series after the final Test, many thought it to be the end of what was a bitterly-fought contest. Whereas teams lose their morale once they lose a Test in India, they kept bouncing back and they had the desire to compete throughout.

Worst, the Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, in a sarcastic remark to a radio station, said Kohli perhaps does not know how to spell the word "sorry".

Their bowlers like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who were silent spectators in the first innings once again came into their elements in the second essay of the match. "This is the captain that said, "I can't actually play because I have a shoulder injury" out there running the drinks", Julian said.

"So that fifth bowler, that was Anil bhai (Kumble) and Jinks and myself, (we) all had a discussion. It was a tough series but I believe it should stay on the field with the players".

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav did just that, with the pace bowlers picking up the wickets of David Warner, Matt Renshaw and Smith.

Relations between the old foes have always been testy, from the infamous "Monkeygate" scandal in 2008 to Virat Kohli showing Australian fans the middle finger four years later, but a bad-tempered series has exacerbated the animosity.