Virat Kohli is box office and England know that. Hence, it was no surprise that the home team and its fielders welcomed the former India captain to the crease with some chirping. At the fall of India's second wicket as Cheteshwar Pujara nicked James Anderson to second slip, out walked Kohli to a cheer, and just as he shadow-practiced, the stump mic captured an English fielder calling him out… 'Hey Virat'.
A very brief exchange then took place between Kohli and the fielder, the audio of which wasn't pretty clear, but it all seemed to be in good jest. Virat even responded to the fielder with a 'what's that?' but the rest of the audio was unclear. Kohli played seven balls and took a single to get off the mark. He is batting on 1, and with him is Hanuma Vihari unbeaten on 14 off 46 balls as India reached 53/2 before early lunch was taken after it started to rain in Birmingham.
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This isn't the first time Kohli has had exchanges with England players during the series. On Day 4 of the Lord's Test, tempers had flared between Kohli and Anderson. While Kohli was at the non-striker's end. Anderson mouthed a few words at the then-India captain – not once, but thrice.
It all began when Virat pointed out to the umpire that Anderson was landing on the danger zone, after which the England quick had a go at the Kohli. "You swearing at me again, are you… like Jasprit? You play by your own rules. This isn't your backyard. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah… Chirp Chirp Chirp. This is what old age makes you," said Kohli, whose words were captured by the stump mic.
{{/usCountry}}It all began when Virat pointed out to the umpire that Anderson was landing on the danger zone, after which the England quick had a go at the Kohli. "You swearing at me again, are you… like Jasprit? You play by your own rules. This isn't your backyard. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah… Chirp Chirp Chirp. This is what old age makes you," said Kohli, whose words were captured by the stump mic.
{{/usCountry}}It did not end there. Kohli also did not hold back as he sledged Jos Buttler and Ollie Robinson in the fourth innings with England trying to save the Test. Anderson and Kohli, who share a long history of battles, will be up for one final round. In 2014, Anderson had the wood over Kohli, dismissing him four times in five Tests, but round two belonged to Kohli in 2018 as he did not get out to him even once.