Best player vs stand-in skipper: BCCI denies Virat Kohli made controversial remark

The BCCI refuted reports, saying that the claims in them were based on hearsay and that no such words were spoken on the field by Virat Kohli.

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@cricketcomau

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rubbished all reports stating that skipper Virat Kohli had told his Australian counterpart Tim Paine that he is the world's best player and the latter is just a stand-in skipper during the second Test in Perth, where the home side went on to win by 146 runs on Tuesday. 

The skippers of the two sides had reportedly engaged in a war of words, which even prompted umpire Chris Gaffaney to step in on the fourth morning on Monday. Kohli had reportedly also made some offensive comments to Paine. 

However, the BCCI refuted the reports, saying that the claims were based on hearsay and that no such words were spoken on the field by Kohli.

"There are reports doing the rounds in the media and across social media platforms claiming India Captain Virat Kohli got involved in a banter with Australia Captain Tim Paine during the 2nd Test at Perth.It is “assumed” that Kohli said, “I am the best player in the world and you are just a stand-in captain”. These claims were based on hearsay and the BCCI would like to bring into notice that no such words were spoken on the field by the Indian captain," the BCCI said in an official statement.

Earlier, both Kohli and Paine shrugged off the verbal showdown and said they had never crossed the line. 

While Kohli stated that there was no swearing or personal attacks during his verbal duel with Paine and that no line was crossed, the latter said that Australia would invite India for a beer in the change rooms as per their team tradition following the series.

Following the result in Perth, the two sides are now levelled at 1-1. India and Australia will now play the third Test from December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).