'He's snitching': Virat Kohli's shock move in Tim Paine battle

Virat Kohli has been called out over a surprise move in his verbal battle with Tim Paine.

Paine and Kohli have been engaging in a tit-for-tat battle during the second Test at Perth Stadium.

Australia vice-captain Josh Hazlewood described the exchanges as “all good fun” and “all in good spirit”, suggesting there was no personal abuse.

However, the skippers’ behaviour prompted a stern rebuke from umpire Chris Gaffaney.

Having engaged in a verbal battle late on Day 3, Australia and India’s respective captains again squabbled during Monday’s morning session.

Kohli squared up to Paine chest-to-chest while the Australian was completing a run, and stump microphones picked up Gaffaney demanding the two behave themselves.

“That’s enough … play the game,” Gaffaney said. “You boys are the captains. Play the game.”

Paine defended himself.

“There’s no swearing,” he said.

But Gaffaney reminded the skippers of their roles.

“You’re the captain, Tim,” Gaffaney responded.

An increasingly fired-up Kohli pleaded his case to square-leg umpire Kumar Dharmasena as Paine and Usman Khawaja continued to extend Australia’s second-innings lead.

Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson revealed what Kohli was saying.

“Speaking to a couple of the boys, Virat was going to the umpire and telling the umpire that ‘Tim Paine is talking to me. Can you tell him to stop?’ That type of thing,” Johnson told Fox Cricket.

“Which I find quite interesting with what happened (on Sunday).”

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan amounted Kohli’s actions to ‘snitching’.

“Mitchell’s just stitched him (Kohli) up and he’s snitching on Tim Paine to the umpire so that will make it a little bit more interesting when India go out to bat,” he said.

Johnson also slammed Kohli after he initially said he wouldn’t be sledging during the Aussie summer.

“Coming into the series and saying he wouldn’t initiate these kinds of stoushes and we saw a lot of that yesterday,” Johnson said.

“Look, I don’t mind the battles out there but if you’re going to say something like that in the papers or in the media and go against your word you’ve got to expect something in return.”

“I know he’s your captain but you can’t seriously like him as a bloke.”

This cheeky sledge from Paine to Murali Vijay – picked up on stump mic – summed up Australia’s dislike for Kohli.

Kohli could hardly contain his joy as he took the catch to dismiss Paine on Monday, with the Aussie looking back in disgust at India’s wild celebrations as he walked from the field.

Australian players returned the favour during the final session when spinner Nathan Lyon snared Kohli’s scalp for 17.

Revelling in India’s demise, Paine then delivered his cheeky sledge to Vijay, questioning how anyone could possibly like Kohli.

Australia had been criticised recently for being too nice in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.

From the evidence seen in the second Test, Australia have found a better balance, engaging in sledging without going over the line.

Tensions bubbled on day three when Kohli and teammates appealed vociferously for a caught-behind appeal in the final over, desperate to dismiss Paine.

It was turned down and India had no interest in reviewing but stump microphones picked up Kohli having a dig at his counterpart.

“If he messes it up, it’s 2-0,” Kohli said, referencing the series lead he is so determined to take at Perth Stadium.

Paine replied: “You’ve got to bat first, big head”.

Kohli and Paine continued to exchange words as they walked towards their respective dressing rooms.

with AAP