Jadeja, Wade get into an ugly war of words...

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 27 

The verbal sparring between Ravindra Jadeja and Matthew Wade on Day 3 could probably be the last episode in the slanging match going on in the series. The frustration started spilling over at the start of Day 3 as Jadeja put the opposition to the sword with his flamboyance.

Jadeja and Wade had been exchanging words since morning but as the all-rounder changed gears, an irked Wade started giving him a mouthful.

The stump microphone caught Wade taunting Jadeja, “Why he is in the Indian team.” To which the left-hander responded, “If you will start it… I will give it back to you.”

The duo came too close for comfort as soon as the left-hander reached his half-century. In the 33rd over of Australia’s second innings, Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal and the subsequent celebrations by the Indian team, peppered with taunts, prompted an angry Wade to walk up to the huddle but Ravichandran Ashwin came between him and the Indian players to diffuse the tension. The Aussie wicketkeeper took on Jadeja, who backed off only after being pulled aside.

Wade walked back to his crease only to take on Murali Vijay. The on-field umpires then had to call India’s skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Jadeja, asking them to restore normalcy. Jadeja later revealed in the press conference that he had only invited Wade for dinner. “We all know what happens. I just told him, once you lose and are free, we will have dinner together,” he said.

On Day 2 also, the duo had locked horns. Wade, bucking up Nathan Lyon in the final session, took a dig at Jadeja by saying, “Very good in all conditions, Gary (Lyon). Great in all conditions, Gary. You get wickets all over the world, mate. You’re not just a one-trick pony.” Jadeja’s immediate response was a six off Lyon’s short-pitched delivery.

At one point of time, umpire Marais Erasmus asked Wade to stop, saying: “Wade, are you going to stop that?”

Hodge suggests Kohli may be saving himself for IPL 

Making a bizarre insinuation, former Australia batsman Brad Hodge has suggested that Indian captain Virat Kohli, who missed the fourth Test in Dharamsala due to an injury, could be saving himself for the Indian Premier League starting next month. Hodge, the coach of IPL’s Gujarat Lions, said it would be “pretty dirty” of Kohli if he turned out for the IPL opener on April 5. “You’d hope as a sportsman that he’s seriously injured. I’m hopeful that when we play RCB in a couple of weeks, he’s not playing,” Hodge was quoted as saying by Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “Because if you miss one Test and you’re fronting up the next week for RCB versus whoever — you’d be pretty dirty if he did not front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia.” 

Smith uses cuss words against Vijay

In another incident on the emotionally-charged day, Australia skipper Steve Smith appeared to have used cuss words against Murali Vijay after the opener claimed to have taken Josh Hazlewood’s catch that was deemed not clean. The incident happened in the 54th over when he edged one to Vijay in the slips. Convinced that Vijay had taken it cleanly, the Indian players started walking to the pavilion while Vijay, being an opener, rushed to put his pads on. The TV umpire intervened after replays showed that the catch was not taken cleanly. The Indian team was called back and Smith, who was in the dressing room, looked displeased with Vijay’s quick run to the pavilion. He was caught by television cameras mouthing “f****** cheat”. Smith was heard using the cuss word in a video uploaded by the Australian broadcaster.