India A batsman spurred by verbals

Test captain Steve Smith gave Australian cricketers a licence to "get into a battle verbally" on their Test tour of India.

Matthew Wade and David Warner have already attempted to do so, without much luck according to talented India A batsman Shreyas Iyer.

India A will resume at 4-176 on the final day of Australia's only tour game before the four-Test series starts in Pune on Thursday.

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Iyer finished Saturday unbeaten on 85 from 93 balls, having attacked Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe with great success at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium.

The young batsman, who shot to fame in India's first-class competition at age 20 when he scored a triple-ton in just 175 deliveries, cracked five sixes and milked easy singles.

The 22-year-old claims wicketkeeper Wade and Warner, when stationed at leg slip, were doing their best to ruin his rhythm.

"A bit of sledging keeps happening from behind, so that also keeps playing into your mind. You have to handle all kinds of pressure," Iyer said.

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

"So I was proving them wrong. I was just focusing on my batting.

"I've been to Australia for India A tour, so I'm quite used to it."

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Wade has always been a vocal presence behind the stumps. Warner didn't mind a bit of chat earlier in his international career, but has cut a different figure since being appointed vice-captain following the 2015 Ashes.

Nicknamed 'The Bull' early in his career, Warner has since become known as 'The Reverend' to his national teammates, such has been the transformation in his on-field approach.

The left-hander's promotion to the vice-captaincy came seven months after a heated run-in with India batsman Rohit Sharma at the MCG in 2015, which prompted Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland to publicly rebuke him.

But Sutherland, in addition to Warner's Australia teammates, have noticed the impact of the vice-captaincy, as well as parenthood, on the opener's attitude.

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"He just continues to step up," Sutherland said in October. "You can't help but be impressed by what he's doing.

"(It) seems as though marriage has been good to him, fatherhood's been good to him, vice-captaincy's been good to him and long may that last.

"I think we saw that in him and I don't think the selectors would have recommended and the board approve his vice-captaincy if we didn't see the sort of growth trajectory that he was on."

Battles for the Border-Gavaskar trophy are often heated affairs.

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

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"Each of our individuals play the way they play and if they want to get into a battle verbally then, if that gets the best out of them, go for it," Smith said on arriving in India.

"It's all about us making sure that as individuals we're in the right mindset to go out and succeed and if guys want to get in those kind of battles then go for it.

"But in the end it's about us playing on skill and making sure that our skills are in the best place for us to succeed."

Test Squads

India (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade

Australia's schedule in India

Feb 17-19, Tour match v India A, Mumbai

Feb 23-27, First Test, Pune

Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru

Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi

Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala