Instances of banter and sledging in matches between India and Australia

India’s tour of Australia has started with the first ODI at SCG, Sydney. Many legends of the game have often said that Australia is the most difficult place to play. At the time of Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, winning in Australia was very difficult. They dominated cricket in all forms of cricket. Australia was a difficult side for two reasons – their on-field game performance and sledging. The domination of Australian Cricket might have ended but the sledging continues to be their big weapon.

Both the teams are known for playing competitive cricket. India was not an aggressive team especially in the foreign lands before the 2000s. Sourav Ganguly was the first captain who taught the Indian team to stare back into the opponent’s eye at home and in foreign conditions. Virat Kohli has gone one step ahead and has taught the team to get under the skin of foreign players. Don’t believe us, hear it from the Australian coach, Justin Langer, in the Amazon Special The Test: A new era for Australia’s Team.

Here are some of the instances to tell you that matches between Indian and Australia can never be boring.

Remember the 2018 Test series when Indian visited Australia. Australian captain Tim Paine tried to sledge young Rishabh Pant from behind the stump. The Australian wicket-keeper even asked Pant to babysit his kids so that he can watch movies with his wife.

Listen to the Aussie Captain here:

Tim Paine doing some recruiting for the @HurricanesBBL out in the middle of the 'G… 😂 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/6btRZA3KI7

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 28, 2018

Indian youngster kept silent at that time and but soon the role switched when Rishabh Pant was behind the wicket and Captain Paine was batting. Rishabh said “Have you heard about a temporary captain?

It was Rishabh Pant's turn for some fun on the stump mic today… #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/RS8I6kI55f

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 29, 2018

Back in 2014, when India was playing under the new Test Captain Virat Kohli, an incident became popular. Virat Kohli had called Rohit Sharma to bowl as a surprise to Australian batsman. Later, Rohit Sharma bowled a delivery in which he thought he has got the wicket of Steve Smith, only to be disappointed. Steve gestured towards Sharma who said something back. The captain couldn’t keep his calm and asked Smith “Stay within your limits.” In the same series, Virat had said in the press conference that he can’t be friends after the incident.

An incident in 2008 ended up with a ban on Indian opener Gautam Gambhir after he elbowed Shane Watson. Visitors kept sledging the young opener until he gave up and hit Australian all-rounder with an elbow while taking a run. He was handed a ban of 1 match after he admitted the mistake in front of the match referee.

Now let’s go back to the mokeygate. Andrew Symonds had accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing him. Harbhajan denied the charge and India maintained that if Harbhajan gets a ban, they will boycott the series. Harbhajan was to be banned for three matches but the officials decided against it.

In the 2014 series, while Virat Kohli was scoring runs, Indian team was struggling. Virat Kohli allegedly blew a kiss at Mitchell Johnson. Later he said “If someone doesn’t respect me, I have got no reason to respect them.

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