Darren Lehmann : Neither Kohli nor Tim Paine crossed the line, it was good banter

Although Virat Kohli has been criticised by many for his on-field antics against Australia in the recently concluded Test match, the Indian skipper has found a defender in former Australian coach Darren Lehmann, who downplayed his behaviour asserting that from what he saw, neither Kohli nor Tim Paine crossed the line. 

Kohli and Paine, on various occasions, were found to be involved in verbal duels and banters in the second Border-Gavaskar Test series in Perth. At one stage, both the players came too close to each other and the on-field umpire had to get involved to calm the matters.

“You just have to make sure it is never personal and play the game in right spirit. Rest, I am sure they will sort it out after the game or after the series,” he said.

Changing the topic, Lehmann assessed that India missed a trick by not playing a spinner and going in with four fast bowlers for the second Test match. India lost the second Test by 146 runs thus losing the lead they had acquired in the first match.

Lehmann, who represented Australia in 117 ODIs, also assessed that India’s batting order failed to make the required runs and hence the visitors were behind in the match from day one and ultimately lost the match. 

“The pitch started playing tricks from day three onwards. India will admit they didn’t make enough runs in the first innings and certainly not on par with Australia. And then Australia again scored too many runs in the second innings. So it was always going to be a tough chase on a pitch like that. Overall, it was a good Test match though,” he said.