Virat Kohli feels no need to get into confrontations with opposition players and has become more assured of himself, the India captain told Sydney-based Macquarie Sports Radio.

Kohli, for whom games against Australia have been as much about heavy run-scoring as about on-field – and off-field – exchanges with the opposition players, now feels no need to prove himself to anyone.

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“I think from last time round, I’ve become more assured of myself, I don’t really find the need to prove anything to anyone,” he said. “I don’t find the need to get involved in anything with the opposition and I think those are changes that keep happening gradually as you go forward.”

During the 2014-15 tour of Australia, Kohli was involved in an engrossing on-field battle with Mitchell Johnson and on Australia’s return tour to India in 2017, the Indian captain didn’t take kindly Steve Smith’s ‘brain fade’ moment that led the then Australia captain seeking help from the dressing room for a DRS call.

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However, the 30-year-old, who became full-time India Test captain in Australia on that 2014-15 tour, is now solely focused on making the team win.

He has an excellent record in Australia as well, scoring 992 runs in eight Tests at an average of 62 with five centuries. Four of those centuries came during his last tour.

“In the early stage of my career, I used to think of these things as important milestones which are really important in one’s career, but now the focus is purely and solely on making the team win at any cost,” Kohli said.

The four-match Test series begins with the first Test at Adelaide Oval from December 6 and will end with the New Year’s Test in Sydney from January 3 next year.

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