Iyer lifts lid on Mumbai verbals

An upset Nathan Lyon got verbal after an unheralded India A tailender took to his bowling in the Mumbai tour match, according to double-centurion Shreyas Iyer.

Lyon grabbed four wickets in Australia's only first-class tour game before their four-Test series against India starts in Pune on Thursday.

But they came at a cost of 162 runs. The off-spinner was belted for 57 runs in a six-over burst late in Sunday's first session at Brabourne Stadium.

Iyer, who finished 202 not out, watched most of the carnage unfold from the non-striker's end as No.8 batsman Krishnappa Gowtham, with a first-class batting average of 19.63 prior to his knock of 74, led the assault.

Gowtham was picked in the hosts' team as an off-spinner, but didn't bowl in Australia's first innings because of a hamstring injury. Iyer later said Lyon questioned the seriousness of Gowtham's injury.

"He was not that happy when Gowtham came in and started attacking him, because he was having an injury," Iyer said.

"He started talking a bit about him. He was asking me 'Who is he … who is this guy?'

"Later on he also asked me 'Was he acting while fielding?'

"He was really disappointed the way he hit him."

Iyer also lifted the lid on the third-day's sledging from India paceman Ashok Dinda towards Australia batsman Peter Handscomb.

"He was playing on the back foot and Dinda went up to him and said 'Just play on the front foot'," Iyer said.

Steve Smith last week gave teammates a licence to "get into a battle verbally" in India.

"If that gets the best out of them, go for it," Smith said.

Tussles for the Border-Gavaskar trophy are often heated.

Indian quartet Varun Aaron, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma, plus Australia's David Warner were all slapped with misconduct fines during the most recent Test series between the two nations.

Warner said he thought it would be pointless sledging fiery India skipper Kohli in the upcoming series.

"If you niggle at him, it either makes him better or if you get under his skin, he'll probably get even better," Warner said after play.

Glenn Maxwell is another who has cautioned against a verbal battle with the India captain.

"I'm probably not going to say anything to him, that's for sure," said Maxwell, who has been a regular rival to Kohli throughout their time in the Indian Premier League and in 21 international meetings across all formats.

"Virat is up and down, I suppose, with sledging.

"If you (strike) a chord with him, or something gets him agitated to play a big shot, then blokes are more than welcome to go for it.

"But at the moment, there's not much agitating him.

Iyer proved throughout the tour match that he doesn't subscribe to the 'what happens on the field, stays on the field' mantra.

The 22-year-old claimed after the second day that wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and Warner were both "sledging" him.

"They keep talking: 'This guy doesn't know how to play defensive strokes, he can't defend the ball'," Iyer said.

"I was proving them wrong."