Australia papers attack Kohli over Steve Smith remarks By BBC Monitoring

Delhi Published duration 8 March 2017

image copyright AP image caption Some reports say that relations between the two sides are at their lowest point

The Australian press has attacked India captain Virat Kohli for accusing his Australian counterpart of getting help from his dressing room with the decision review system.

India won the match by 75 runs on the fourth day on Tuesday.

Smith, 27, was caught looking up to his side's dressing room as he considered reviewing an lbw decision during the defeat in the second Test in Bangalore.

But the media have come down hard on Kohli for his "accusations".

A headline in The Sydney Morning Herald says , "Kohli all but accuses Australia of cheating after epic Indian Test win".

Andrew Wu writes in the paper that the result of the match was "overshadowed by Kohli's post-match bombshell where he accused Australia of consulting their dressing room over DRS while batting and in the field".

He added that "relations between the two sides are now at its lowest point since the Monkeygate scandal of 2007-08".

"Monkeygate" refers to a 2008 incident when Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh was accused of a racial slur aimed at Andrew Symonds.

He was later exonerated.

Writing in The Age , Greg Baum says the DRS has been a "nightmare" for everyone.

"Now it [DRS] has become Frankenstein, a man-made mechanical monster. If more sensible protocols cannot be developed, it should be scrapped altogether," he says.

Baum adds that India and Australia now have a week "to calm down".

"The humour of the series has deteriorated as the drama has escalated, and for once the Indians have been more culpable than the Australians. Kohli needs to get a grip, quickly. Meantime, Smith and the Australians must ignore him," he adds.

Malcolm Knox, in another article in the Age , writes: "There were two games going on in Bangalore, but only one of them was cricket.

"Kohli discovered a newfound respect for politeness when declining to use the C-word [cheating]. But he said as much when alleging that Australia used changing room support twice while he was batting: which is some accusation, given the brevity of Kohli's innings."

Other papers also criticised Kohli.

A headline in the Herald Sun described the Indian captain as "cricket's ultimate bully" while The Australian says "Cricket war of words flares again".

The report in The Australian said: "Cricket Australia chief launches an extraordinary attack on Indian skipper Virat Kohli, as strained relations explode again."

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