Ind vs Aus 2020: ‘He's just another player to me,’ Tim Paine on rivalry with Virat Kohli

Australian Test captain Tim Paine has opened up on his much-hyped rivalry with Indian skipper Virat Kohli ahead of the Test series starting next month. Paine insisted that the Indian cricket team captain was just another player for him.

"I get asked a lot of questions about Virat Kohli, he's just another player to me it doesn't really bother me. There's not really a relationship there with him to be fair, I see him at the toss and play against him and that's about it," Paine told ABC Sport

It may be recalled that Virat Kohli and Paine were involved in multiple verbal duels during the tense Test series in 2018-19. India registered their maiden Test triumph Down Under with a 2-1 win over a depleted Aussies, who were missing the services of banned duo Steve Smith and David Warner.

Why Australians love to hate Virat Kohli

On the topic of Virat Kohli, Paine added that Australians love to hate the Indian captain, but they admire his skill with the bat.

"With Virat, it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we don't like seeing him score too many runs," the Aussie captain added.

Discussing the intense rivalry between India and Australia, Paine added that both him and Virat Kohli are competitive, hence there are bound to be some flare-ups.

"Australia and India, its a heated competition and he's obviously a competitive person and so am I, so year there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn't because he was the captain and I was the captain, it could have been anyone," explained the 35-year-old, who was handed over the Test captaincy amid the ball-tampering saga that rocked Australian cricket.

The Border Gavaskar Trophy will kick-off with the Day/Night Test at Adelaide on December 27, followed by three more Tests. India will begin their tour of Australia with a three-match ODI series starting on November 27 followed by an equal number of T20Is.

Virat Kohli will feature in the ODIs and the T20Is as well as the first Test, before heading back to India for the birth of his first child.