#INDvAUS: Dear Australians, it is you who are classless and utterly delusional

The irony of it all and the frustration of the losers is not lost on anyone.

The Australian media and players, right from the lead up to the recently-concluded Test series in India, have been targeting Virat Kohli. And when they got back much more than what they dished out and worse, lost the series 2-1, they are coming across as cry babies.

The Australian media on Wednesday called the Indian captain 'egomaniac' and 'classless'. Really? If pot ever called a kettle black, this would top even that.

Sunil Gavaskar does not mince words and when he called the visiting media contingent as an extension of Australian team's support staff, he was spot on.

Both Aussie players and media tried their best to unsettle Kohli and thus, the team. They failed. That he flopped in the series with the bat is a different matter. As a captain, the 28-year-old has taken the fight back to the opposition — run for run, word for word.

The problem with Australian cricketers, their media and even the CEO of Cricket Australia, who commented that Kohli cannot spell 'sorry', is that they are like that bully in a classroom, who does not know how to react when someone kicks him in the groin.

Hold a mirror in front of them and they don't like what they see. They lack the capacity to understand that the problem is the reflection, not the mirror itself.

If someone has been classless and utterly delusional, it is the Australian media, and the players. While a media house there implied that Kohli is an animal and another compared him with Donald Trump, the players and ex-players have passed comments off the field with the sole aim of discrediting the Indian skipper.

Brad Hodge had the audacity to question Kohli's commitment. Mitchell Johnson and his ilk have cheekily tried to pit Ajinkya Rahane against Kohli.

And when Kohli said he doesn't consider the Aussie cricketers friends any more, they started talking about sportsman spirit.

Kohli has called a spade a spade. Too bad if the Aussies did not like what they heard.

Australian cricketers have been having the cake and eating it too for a long time. That is now over. They cannot behave like street-side ruffians on the field and hide under the guise of sportsman spirit off it. The rule is simple, you throw a punch, there will be punches thrown back. If you cannot take one, then keep your hands in the pocket.

By apologising at the end of an acrimonious series in which he came across as nothing better than what the Aussie cricketers are generally perceived as, Steve Smith has done nobody a favour. The horse is off, no point bolting the stable door now.

Before the start of the series, Smith said if any of his players has a go at the Indians, he will not stop them. That's the note on which he began the series, he could have done much better by saying he will not allow his players to sledge. But for that, a captain needs to have a far-reaching vision and not one that starts from the wicket and ends at the dressing room.

And yes, about the Beergate, ask Joe Root if it is a smart thing to drink with the Australian cricketers. Kohli and his men did the right thing by rejecting the offer that both teams drink together. You don't sugarcoat a bitter pill and live in that pretence.

For all practical purposes, as far as cricket between India and Australia is concerned, the gloves are off, and it is unlikely that Aussies will be allowed to throw a punch and get away with it.