Heated exchanges, snide whispers often picked up by the stump microphone, the odd glare and exaggerated celebrations after the fall of a wicket, are back in vogue for matches involving India and Australia.
Captains Virat Kohli and Tim Paine have also been drawn towards anger’s abyss, but the rival camps maintained a diplomatic stance over the bristling moments of the second Test in progress at the Optus Stadium.
India’s star on Monday, Mohammed Shami, sought to downplay the confrontational behaviour with an ‘all-part-of-the-game’ platitude. Australia’s Josh Hazlewood echoed that view and said the words were uttered in the heat of the moment but they were never personal.
Asked for his view, Shami said: “We cannot say much about it. It is part of the game. Nothing too serious. When you play Test cricket, it is a long match and you have a long time so a little bit of aggression is there and sometimes you react (based) on the moment. “We don’t need to mind these things too much. If these things don’t happen in the match then I think the match won’t be interesting either.”
Later, Hazlewood added: “I think it was all in 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 spirit.”
The adrenaline rush is fine but the verbal sparring is an unnecessary appendage to a well-fought series.
