Thunder Down Under: Watch Virat Kohli give the perfect 'send off' to Steve Smith

Virat Kohli had openly agreed that he believes in healthy sledging and as long as the line is not crossed, that aspect of the game will not bother him. In the recent tour Down Under the poster boy of Indian cricket  has been involved in on-field banters with Aussie all-rounder James Faulkner and on Tuesday Kohli went ahead and ruffed up the feathers of Australian Test and ODI skipper Steve Smith.

Unlike the Kohli-Faulkner incident, in which stump microphones picked up the chatter, the Kohli-Smith dialogue was not audible. Smith was caught by the Indian Test captain off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling and Kohli immediately signalled something just as he was walking back to the pavilion. From the video footage it was clear that the Australian had tried to disturb Kohli's rhythm during his match winning knock at Adelaide. The Indian replied back by taunting Smith to speak up after his dismissal. Dhoni tried to calm down his deputy but Kohli gave Smith a handful as the latter responded to his taunt.

Earlier while batting first, Kohli had faced 55 balls in his whirlwind knock of 90, which was laced by nine fours and two sixes, to give India a respectable total of 188 for three. The Indians then bundled the hosts for 151 in 19.3 overs to record only their second win on the tour so far, with two more T20 matches in Melbourne (January 29) and Sydney (January 31) remaining.

Incidentally this is not the first time that Kohli has been involved in a verbal game with Smith. During India's 2015-15 Test series in Australia, Kohli had asked Smith to stay within his limits when the latter was batting at Adelaide.