Kohli slammed at home and abroad
Indian captain Virat Kohli faced stiff criticism both Down Under and at home on Wednesday after his side's crushing loss to Australia in the second Test.
Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson called Kohli "disrespectful" and "silly" over his heated exchanges with fellow skipper Tim Paine during the Perth Test.
Former India great Sunil Gavaskar meanwhile hit out at "selection blunders" and the Indian Express daily slammed Kohli's "explicit lack of confidence" in some of his players.
Kohli and Paine exchanged barbs, at one point prompting intervention from the umpire, during the game that Australia won by 146 runs on Tuesday to level the four-match series 1-1.
It was reported that Kohli belittled Paine as just "a stand-in captain".
The retired Johnson said the famously combative Kohli's antics were unnecessary.
"At the end of the match, you should be able to look each other in the eyes, shake hands and say 'great contest'," he wrote in a column for Fox Sports.
"Virat Kohli could not do that with Tim Paine, shaking the Australian captain's hand but barely making eye contact with him. To me, that is disrespectful.
"Kohli gets away with more than most cricketers simply because he is Virat Kohli and he gets placed on a pedestal but this Test left the Indian captain looking silly," he added.
Kohli did not mock Paine in sledge: BCCI
The Indian cricket board has taken the extraordinary step of issuing a statement denying Virat Kohli's alleged "stand-in captain" sledge at Tim Paine took place, in another sign pressure is mounting inside the visiting team's camp.
India's quest to win a historic first series on these shores is hitting major hurdles in the wake of their heavy loss in Perth.
The defeat has been compounded by the negative publicity generated by their captain's belligerent on-field behaviour, allegations of in-fighting and disharmony over team selection.
Only hours after Kohli had decreed that what happens on the field stays on the field, the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) slammed as "baseless" reports its captain had mocked Paine.
Meanwhile, Kohli has thrown his weight behind India's struggling openers but the tourists' defeat in Perth showed they have yet to find a solution to their top order woes.
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