While the on-field verbal spats between the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and the Australian skipper Tim Paine remained a top-talking point during the Perth Test, the Australian media reported the actual reason of the banter. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) rubbishes that entire claim.
During Australia’s second innings of the Perth Test, both the captains were involved in the on-field banters. According to the Australian media reports, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli went for the personal attacks.
According to news.com.au, Kohli said to Paine, “I’m the best player in the world and you’re just a stand-in captain.”
The on-field banters made the warmer condition of the game and Paine later involved with Indian opener Murali Vijay during the fourth innings of the game.
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Virat Kohli has been hugely criticised for his on-field behaviours in this Test match. However, the BCCI has denied the whole claim by the media and classified the reports as baseless after getting clarification from the team management.
BCCI’s official statement claimed, “There are reports doing the rounds in the media and across social media platforms claiming India Captain Virat Kohli got involved in a banter with Australia Captain Tim Paine during the 2nd Test at Perth.
“It is “assumed” that Kohli said, “I am the best player in the world and you are just a stand-in captain”. These claims were based on hearsay and the BCCI would like to bring into notice that no such words were spoken on the field by the Indian captain.
“The BCCI got a clarification from the team management about the incident and would like to classify the reports as baseless.”
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India lost that Perth Test match by 146 runs. After deciding to bat first, Australia scored 326 runs in the first innings of the game. In reply, India 283 runs in their first innings.
Starting their second innings with 43 runs lead, Australia managed to score 243 runs before getting all out. Chasing down the challenging fourth innings target of 287 runs, the visitors were wrapped up for just 140 runs.
Earlier in this Test series, India won the first Test at Adelaide by 31 runs. At the end of the second Test of the four-match Test series, the series is currently levelled by 1-1.
