Langer saw 'a bit of Aussie humour' in Paine-Kohli's heated exchanges

The war of words between Tim Paine and Virat Kohli was a throwback to the heydays of Australian cricket for coach Justin Langer, who saw in it "a bit of Aussie humour".

"I loved watching that. We saw a bit of Aussie humour - call it sledging, banter, what you like. There was a bit of humour to it, and we pride ourselves on that. The great days I have seen in Australian cricket, that's all it is.

"It's so much fun, that's why when people tell me 'there can't be any speaking out on the ground'. I say it'd make it boring, like playing on a flat wicket," Langer said on Monday.

Kohli's heated exchanges with his Australian counterpart Paine in the second Test have been a subject of discussion.

"It doesn't need to be angry, doesn't need to be abusive. But when there's that humour and there's a bit of - we've also got to stand up for ourselves. That's really important.

"That's the Australian way of doing things as well. We've got to stand up for ourselves. I thought the way Tim did it - I am that impressed with Tim Paine's captaincy."
"If we play on flat wickets then it becomes a boring game and that's from someone who loves Test cricket. Hopefully it's a contest between bat and ball because it's important, not just for this series but also for world cricket."
"We weight up all those things. Pete's a very good player of spin bowling and Mitch is a good player of spin too. They are the hard decisions. You generally talk about one position and they are the ones that give you the most headaches."