The Indian cricket board (BCCI) on Tuesday denied reports that suggested that the Virat Kohli-Tim Paine spat started after the Indian captain said things that were in bad taste.
According to reports in the media, Kohli got involved in a banter with the Australia captain during the 2nd Test at Perth after 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,” a statement from the BCCI read.
Shortly before lunch, on Day 4 of the Perth Test, Paine and his Indian counterpart were involved in a heated exchange which forced umpire Chris Gaffaney to step in.
The battle between the two continued after lunch. Paine was the first Australian batsman to fall just at the resumption of the third session -- he was caught by Kohli at slips off the bowling of Shami and was given a send-off by the Indian captain.
Following India’s defeat on Tuesday, Kohli said of the banter: "As long as there is no swearing on the field, and there's no personal attacks, the line doesn't get crossed. That's it!.
"But look, in competitive spirit it stays on the field. I am not going to go into details but to be honest it's not of importance for me to speak on and it's something that's done.”
