'I wanted to pick up the stump and stab him'

Former Test batsman Ed Cowan has revealed a highly inappropriate sledge from Virat Kohli left him absolutely seething during India's tour of Australia in 2012.

The normally unflappable Cowan says he felt like 'picking up the stump and stabbing' Kohli after a run-in with the now Indian captain five years ago.

Cowan was picked for his Test debut at the MCG against India in 2012 and Kohli obviously wanted to see if he could rattle the newcomer.

"I had a little bit of a run-in that was inappropriate when he toured Australia and the umpire had to intervene," Cowan told Fox Sports' 'The Stack Report' podcast.

"We forget that English isn't their first language. It's very easy to sit back and say as a player they're barking something at me that is inappropriate when we don't try and converse with them in Hindi.

"There's always going to be niggles around misinterpretation of what's said and what isn't said on the field.

"I had a very sick Mum during one of those series and he said something that was inappropriate.

WHAT A FLOG: Aussie legend lashes out at Kohli

"Why I make the point of 'lost in translation', he said something that was highly inappropriate. A personal matter that was highly sensitive. Highly inappropriate. But he didn't realise that he'd overstepped the mark until the umpire came over and said — 'Virat that's overstepped the mark' — and once that was said, he took a step back and apologised.

"But, there was a moment I wanted to pick up the stump and stab him."

Australia's hard-fought series in India witnessed plenty of acrimony, the most notable being Kohli's criticism of counterpart Steve Smith for gesturing towards his dressing room for guidance on whether to review an lbw decision in the second Test at Bengaluru.

Immediately after India clinched the series 2-1 with Tuesday's win, Kohli said he would not regard any Australian cricketer as a friend "ever again", going against the good will he felt towards the tourists prior to the first Test.

But Kohli believes his comments have been blown out of proportion and clarified they were directed only at a couple of individuals.

"My answer at the post-match conference has been blown way out of proportion," the feisty 28-year-old, who is also captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, said on his verified Twitter account on Thursday.

"I did not categorically say the whole Australian team but only a couple of individuals. I continue to be in good terms with the few guys I know & who I've played with at RCB & that doesn't change."

Kohli, who took exception to many things uttered by Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon and other Australians during the series, declared India will never "take a backwards step from anyone".

"This team, regardless of whether we are on top or not, we speak," Kohli said.

"We take it very well and we give it back even better.

"A very wise person told me that when a person is down, the weak come out and speak about him. It takes courage to speak about someone when they are on top."

with AAP