Despite the fact that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli had earlier said that he is not looking for any banter during the ongoing Test series against Australia, the series has not been played quietly. While it was expected that the main tussle will be between the likes of Mitchell Starc and Virat Kohli who have shared not so good moments on the field, it is the Aussie captain Tim Paine who has locked horns with his counterpart. In a shocking revelation, the Indian skipper reminded Paine that he’s just a stand-in captain of the Australian team during an altercation on Day 3 of the Perth Test.
There was something going on between Paine and Kohli while walking off the field after the end of day’s play on Sunday and surely that wasn’t a normal talk. According to news.com.au, Kohli pointed out that he is the best player in the world while speaking to Paine. “I’m the best player in the world and you’re just a stand-in captain,” Kohli said to Paine.
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As per the reports in the Australian media, this was the reason that Paine was fired up on the fourth day in Perth as he didn’t give his wicket away and also sledged Murali Vijay. Interestingly the verbal banter between the duo continued on Day four as well. Virat was seen running into Tim when the latter was taking a single. After Kohli’s ‘I am the best player in the world’ jibe at Paine, the Australian captain responded saying, “Yeah, I’m no good. We can’t all be The King. You’re the one who lost it yesterday, why are you trying to be cool today. Keep your cool, Virat.”
Meanwhile, the umpire Chris Gaffaney had to intervene between the two skippers in order to maintain the decorum of the game as the umpire said, “Ok, that’s enough, that’s enough. Play the game. You guys are the captains.”
Replying to the umpires’ comments, Paine was fiery as he said that they are just having a conversation. He said, “We’re allowed to talk. We can have a conversation. There’s no swearing.” The intensity on the field from both sides was always high throughout the day. It will be interesting to see if the match referee will have his say on this matter with both the captains.
