Virat Kohli baited Steve Smith into trading barbs as emotions threatened to boil over after India fired their first shot of the series on a riveting day of Test cricket on Sunday.
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Australia end Day 2, lead by 48 runs
Australia lead by 48 runs at stumps on day two of the Second Test, with a first innings of 6/237.
In one of the most intense days of Test cricket in recent memory, Australia's charge towards retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy hit a speed hump against a revved up Indian team which rose from their slumber just in the nick of time.
Australia showed their newfound resilience on the second day, producing one of their most patient displays with the bat in the Twenty20 era, to edge into the lead. And they did it without major contributions from on-field generals Smith and David Warner.
Instead it was the youngest player in the side, Matt Renshaw, and the maligned Shaun Marsh who led their side into the black by scrounging precious half-centuries; however the road to victory is littered with booby traps.
The visitors made it to stumps on 6-237, an advantage of 48, but the second Test remains in the balance. Any fourth-innings run chase in excess of 150 will be fraught on a wicket that is already offering sharp turn and enough grubbers to trouble even the world's best batsmen.
Newcomers who have discovered the game via Twenty20 may have quickly lost interest but purists would have been captivated by every ball.
Australian teams have paid a heavy price for aggression in Asia over the years but Smith's men are, to adopt Paul Keating's famous line, prepared to do India slowly rather than taking the wham, bam thank you ma'am approach.
![Last laugh: Virat Kohli walks off for the lunch break with Matt Renshaw and Shaun Marsh, having enjoyed Steve Smith's ...](/web/20170307180735im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/r/4/r/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gur4e4.png/1488742813711.jpg)
Rarely have Australia batted a full day and scored fewer than the 197 runs, at a tortoise-like 2.19 an over, they garnered on the second day.
They were helped by India's continued ineptitude with the decision review system, the hosts squandering three referrals â two of which were used in hope â and failing to use it when justified.
![Intense in the middle: Virat Kohli and Steve Smith have a history of trading barbs.](/web/20170307180735im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/r/4/m/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gur4e4.png/1488742813711.jpg)
Kohli has failed to land a blow with the bat but the combative captain, along with talismanic spinner Ravi Ashwin, whipped the crowd into a lather in the first session, turning the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium into a hostile cauldron.
No player was given a hotter reception than Smith, who only days ago ran the gauntlet by publicly declaring the home side was feeling the pressure.
![One that got away: Virat Kohli reacts to missing a catch off Matt Renshaw.](/web/20170307180735im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/r/4/h/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gur4e4.png/1488752079949.jpg)
Kohli greeted the Australian captain with several choice words as he marked his guard and did not relent throughout Smith's perilous stay at the crease.
The pair were constantly at it. Not even the drinks break provided sanctuary for Smith from Kohli, who was intent on getting inside his opposing number's head.
"Steve Smith has made a lot of runs in the last 12 months, two years; I can't recall anybody getting under his skin or saying a word to him," former captain Michael Clarke said on Star Sports.
"Virat [has decided] we're not letting Steve Smith play his game, living in his bubble and making more runs, I'm going to stir him up and get something out of the Australian captain."
Kohli succeeded in getting a reaction from Smith, whose customary "light sabre" leaves became more extravagant as the tension mounted.
Like the iguana in the terrifying chase scene in the BBC's Planet Earth II documentary, Smith was under fire from all angles.
If he was not coming under attack from Kohli's verbal barrage, then it was Ravi Ashwin's fizzing off-breaks and pace pair Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav's fierce spells of reverse-swing threatening stumps.
Smith's 81-minute knock of eight, which ended when he was caught in close off Ravindra Jadeja's underused left-arm spin, will go down as a failure in the scorebook, but he did well to last that long.
Renshaw was also in the thick of the drama, angering Ashwin and Kohli by holding his ground and preventing the Indian spinner from fielding off his own bowling.
Given a life on 29 by Kohli, Renshaw batted for nearly four-and-a-half hours before his concentration gave way on 60.
"There was a bit of talk but that's because they're trying to unnerve each other," Renshaw said.
"We know they're trying to get under our skins because we have a 1-0 lead in the series."
Marsh, too, has rewarded selectors who, somewhat controversially, preferred him ahead of Usman Khawaja. The West Australian would have been out on 14 had India referred a caught behind, and on 44 had a successful lbw shout overturned and was saved by a no-ball from Ishant Sharma.