India vs England: 5 instances of sledging that made the game absorbing

5. Ravichandran Ashwin versus James Anderson in 4th Test, Mumbai, 2016

Offie Ravichandran Ashwin had a rich haul in this Test played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and India won it by an innings and 36 runs to pocket the five-match series. However, even as England struggled to keep pace with India after skipper Virat Kohli hit 235 and Ashwin took 12 wickets in the game, the visitors’ veteran pacer James Anderson made a remark during the match snubbing Kohli’s great form in the series.

Anderson had said that Kohli’s high tally of runs in the series did not prove that his technique against a moving ball and in English conditions was perfect and it was evident during the 2014 series (Kohli averaged an appalling 13.50 in 10 Test innings in that series).

Kohli’s team-mates, including Ashwin, did not take Anderson’s commet likely and there was a slight confrontation on the ground between Anderson, who was batting as a tail-ender, and the Indian fielders. Kohli himself had to intervene to calm things down and said to have learnt from Ashwin what the ruckus was all about.

For the Indian fans, it was a good gesture from the Indian players to back their captain, who smashed 655 runs in five Tests and was adjudged the man of the series.