While both Virat Kohli and Tim Paine said that there will be minimal sledging during the Test series between India and Australia, it seems that the heat of competition is getting to both the teams in Adelaide.
The incident took place in the 58th over of Australia’s innings on Day 2. Tim Paine, who came out to bat after the wicket of Peter Handscomb, defended the first ball back to the bowler and Kohli, fielding in the slips, was quick to come forward and say something to him.
While it was not clear what he said, commentator Michael Clarke pointed out there was a war of words going on and he thought Paine had sledged any of the young Indian players earlier and Kohli is just reminding him about the incident.
India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant also kept sledging the hosts with possibly the best one coming against Usman Khawaja.With Australia losing wickets in regular intervals, Ravichandran Ashwin was looking to dismiss Khawaja to put India in the driver’s seat and Pant was heard shouting “Not everyone is Pujara here, lads” on the stumps mic.
{{/usCountry}}India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant also kept sledging the hosts with possibly the best one coming against Usman Khawaja.With Australia losing wickets in regular intervals, Ravichandran Ashwin was looking to dismiss Khawaja to put India in the driver’s seat and Pant was heard shouting “Not everyone is Pujara here, lads” on the stumps mic.
{{/usCountry}}Australia coach Justin Langer said if his players were to celebrate wickets like Indian captain Virat Kohli does, they would now be seen as “the worst blokes in the world”.
Kohli was his usual animated self on Friday, celebrating Australian wickets with gusto. Langer said he “loved seeing that passion” but felt Australia players would be judged differently if they did the same.
READ: India vs Australia: Rishabh Pant creates history in Adelaide Test
“He’s (Kohli) a superstar of the game and he’s the captain. We’ve talked for as long as I can remember in Australian cricket teams that you want to keep the opposition captain down as much as possible. You love seeing that passion in sport,” Langer told Fox Cricket.
“Mind you I think if we did that at the moment we’d be the worst blokes in the world. It’s a fine line isn’t it? “That’s the truth of it, but I love seeing the passion, that is great passion. But as I said there’s a fine line.”