Paine, Kohli trade barbs in Perth

"I know he's your captain but you can't seriously like him as a bloke."

This cheeky sledge from Tim Paine to Murali Vijay - picked up on stump mic - was the Australian captain's cheeky barb that followed his counterpart's dismissal.

Paine and Kohli have been engaging in a tit-for-tat battle during the second Domain Test at the Perth Stadium, with their behaviour even prompting a stern rebuke from umpire Chris Gaffaney.

Having engaged in a verbal exchange late on day three of the second Test, Australia and India's respective captains again traded barbs during Monday's morning session.

Kohli squared up to Paine chest-to-chest while the Australian was completing a run and stump microphones picked up Gaffaney demanding the two behave themselves.

"That's enough... play the game," Gaffaney said. "You boys are the captains. Play the game."

Paine defended himself. "There's no swearing," he said. "We're just having a conversation." 

But Gaffaney reminded skippers of their roles. "You're the captain, Tim," Gaffaney responded.

An increasingly fired-up Kohli appeared to plead his case to square-leg umpire Kumar Dharmasena as Paine and Usman Khawaja continued to extend Australia's second-innings lead.

Image Id: E4E6D91C3AF84454815DA08ADB58C2ED Image Caption: Kohli and Paine get close // Getty

Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson revealed what Kohli was saying.

"Speaking to a couple of the boys, Virat was going to the umpire and telling the umpire that 'Tim Paine is talking to me. Can you tell him to stop?' That type of thing," Johnson told Fox Cricket.

"Which I find quite interesting with what happened yesterday."

"I reckon it's a sign Kohli is starting to lose it," former Test bowler Damien Fleming said on SEN radio.

Former Test captain Ricky Ponting said on Seven he had no issue with the exchanges, noting that nothing aggressive or explicit had been detected.

Paine's fighting knock was brought to an end on 37 when he gloved a rising Mohammed Shami delivery to Kohli to slip.

Kohli could hardly contain his joy as he gobbled up the catch, with Paine looking back at India's celebrations as he walked from the field.

Tensions bubbled on day three when Kohli and teammates appealed vociferously for a caught-behind appeal in the final over, desperate to dismiss Paine.

It was turned down and India had no interest in reviewing but stump microphones picked up Kohli having a dig at his counterpart.

"If he messes it up, it's 2-0," Kohli said, referencing the series lead he is so determined to take at the Perth Stadium.

Paine replied: "You've got to bat first, big head".

Kohli and Paine continued to exchange words as they walked towards their respective dressing rooms, but the exchange was good natured and the pair traded thumbs up before exiting the field.

"Tim just asked him where he was going for dinner," Nathan Lyon said.

"I've played enough cricket against Virat to know what he's like. Virat's Virat.

"Virat Kohli is a great player. He plays on emotion. 

"I'm not worried about what he's doing or India's doing."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar