Australia Test captain Tim Paine is not a fan of the on-field shenanigans of his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli was a talking point last time the two teams met together for a full series. In a recent interview with ABC Sport, the Australian described his relationship as something very complex where he loves to hate him and yet loves to watch him bat.
"With Virat, it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we don't like seeing him score too many runs," said Paine.
Further throwing light on the on-field banters, the 35-year-old Tasmanian said that he really holds nothing for Kohli and he is as close to him as any other member of the Indian team.
"He’s just another player to me it doesn't really bother me. There's not really a relationship there with him to be fair, I see him at the toss and play against him and that's about it," he said.
Describing the on-field tensions between the two players, Paine said, "Australia and India, it's a heated competition and he's obviously a competitive person and so am I, so yeah there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn't because he was the captain and I was the captain, it could have been anyone.”
Saying that the intensity goes up when the best players in the world come out to the crease, Piane said he reacts in the same to Joe Root or Stokes as he does to Kohli. "There is always a bit more tension when a player is as good as he is, it's the same when you play against England, its Joe Root or a Ben Stokes," Paine said.
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