The on-field verbal duel between rival captains Virat Kohli and Tim Paine took a new turn on the fourth day after the Australian captain sledged Kohli when he was not even present in the middle
The unthinkable sledging took place when stump mic caught Paine telling Indian opener Murali Vijay “Murali, I know he’s your captain. But you can’t seriously like him as a bloke.” Paine’s cheeky remark came after Kohli was dismissed for 17 by Nathan Lyon beauty.
The Kohli-Paine duel started towards the end of the day’s play when Kohli made the move by saying something to Australian captain after he narrowly survived a huge caught behind appeal. The duo were seen having a go at each other even when players were walking off the field.
Amazingly, the banter continued on Day 4. During the 71st over of the Australia innings bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, the respective captains were seen exchanging words after Kohli decided to field close to the non-striker and on-field umpire Chris Gaffaney warned both the players.
Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, however, played down the incidents, saying it was done in good spirits.
"I think it was all good fun, it's quite competitive out there as you know and there's going to be words from time to time but it was all in good spirits," Hazlewood said.
"I don't think we read too much into it, we go about our work as we see fit and the Indians can do what they like. We control what we control and our behaviour is what we control. We'll worry about that and let everything else take care of itself."
Australia have India on the mat at 112 for 5. India need 175 more runs to win the match with only Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant and the tail to go.