Kohli douses Ashwin-Anderson fire

Virat Kohli has adopted the uncharacteristic role as peacemaker to pacify an angry exchange between off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and England paceman James Anderson on the final day of the fourth Test in Mumbai.

Monday's incident occurred when England No.11 Anderson walked out to bat and was greeted by angry words from Ashwin, whose views were echoed by his teammates in the innings and 36 runs victory for the hosts.

Ashwin appeared irked by Anderson's comments on Sunday that Kohli's technique was not being thoroughly tested on the docile pitches on the subcontinent.

This came after the India skipper had hit 235 at Wankhede Stadium for his third double century of 2016.

England's leading Test wicket-taker dismissed Kohli four times during India's tour of England in 2014, but the batsman has flayed Anderson and amassed 640 runs in the series.

"For the first time I was trying to calm things down in the middle at a time when James Anderson is involved," a grinning Kohli, who's often very demonstrative on the field, said after India moved 3-0 ahead in the five-match series.

"Ashwin wasn't pleased with what (Anderson) said in the press and I didn't even know about it. He told me on the ground.

"So I didn't know what to make of it. I was laughing about it. Ashwin wasn't too impressed and he let him know without using any bad words, honestly," Kohli said.

"I think (Ashwin) told me he was pretty disappointed with what he said and it is important to accept defeat as it is. Later on, I told James these things happen and let's move on."

England captain Alastair Cook said the contretemps were unnecessary and had left a "sour" taste.

"A disappointing end in terms of how well the spirit's been between both sides," Cook said.

"It was clearly reference to what Jimmy said yesterday, which has kind of been blown out of all proportions ... He was just stating a fact, which if you asked Virat is probably quite true.

"But yes, it was obviously just sticking up for their captain, which I thought was slightly unnecessary."

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