Ind vs Aus: Less cricket due to Covid has made us grateful, friendly, says Virat Kohli

New Delhi - The Indian captain feels that lack of cricket due to Covid-19 has made players less prickly.

In one of the scenes of docuseries, The Test, which documents Australia's emergence out of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and shows the non-aggressive, soft side of the team, Tim Paine is shown telling his teammates to completely ignore Virat Kohli during India's 2018-19 tour of Australia.

The Australia captain asks them to not engage him. Paine, however, himself falls for it and indulges in chatter in the second Test Perth after being tempted into it by the India skipper.

Two years later, Paine says he is not one for run-ins but he won't hold back if tempted in the Test series that starts with a day-nighter in Adelaide on Thursday.

"Certainly, we don't go in planning to have run-ins or be overly aggressive or anything like that. We just go out there to execute our plans firstly with bat and ball, and at times things at the field can be... if that is the case, no doubt that this team won't be taking a backward step," said Paine on Wednesday, the eve of the first Test, a day-night fixture.

Despite that, both Paine and coach Justin Langer have emphasised that there will be only banter and no abuse.

Kohli remains game for on-field aggression, though admitting that a lot of things in the past were unnecessary. Apart from the run-in with Paine, Kohli had it with Steve Smith too in a few series prior before the 2018-19 one. Kohli accused Smith of cheating in the 'brain-fade incident' when the Australian looked for help from the dressing room for a DRS referral during the 2017 series in India. In the 2016 limited overs series in Australia, Kohli gave Smith a send-off but the worst came in 2014-15, when Kohli among other Indians had on-field fights with many Australian cricketers including Mitchell Johnson who threw a ball at him. A war of words broke out on the field between Kohli and Smith in the first Test at Adelaide in 2014, the venue for the first Test this time too.

The Indian captain feels that, apart from the IPL and Australians changing their approach, lack of cricket due to Covid-19 has made players less prickly.

"I think this year has made people realise a lot of things which may not have been necessary in the past where you hold grudges or where you have unnecessary tension between teams or individuals. Absolutely pointless. (But) You still have to be professional, positive and aggressive in your body language in the way you go about things in the field. I don't think that things are going to be as personal as they used to be before," said Kohli on Wednesday.

"The unnecessary stuff is going to be filtered out pretty much by itself. It could be a culmination of playing IPL together, Australia changing their approach to an extent and also the way things have panned out this year. Everyone is grateful for the opportunities to be back on the field. It is not that the games haven't been as intense or as competitive. It is just that the unnecessary stuff has been filtered out. I feel there is more respect between the sides and you can see that on the field. I hope the cricket continues to be competitive," added Kohli.