Bump to 'barbecue': Kohli's run-out could be Test turner

Virat Kohli courted controversy for his Boxing Day bump on Sam Konstas, but it was a young batting star from his own team who was left crushed hardly 24 hours later in what may prove a Test turning point.

Nathan Lyon gleefully described Kohli's mix-up with Yashasvi Jaiswal as a "barbecue" after the opener's run-out sparked a late second-day collapse of 3-6 to derail India's strong first-innings reply to Australia.

What appeared a reasonably straightforward, if a little tight, quick single turned into disaster for India when Jaiswal flicked Scott Boland towards Pat Cummins at mid-on and set off without hesitation.

But Kohli never even attempted the run, turning his back on the scampering Jaiswal who ended up standing next to him at the non-striker's end, nor did the senior batter consider sacrificing his own wicket for the opener who had been the more prolific of the pair in their 102-run stand.

Jaiswal gestured at Kohli as if to say, 'That was my call,' while Kohli indicated he thought there was never a run to be taken.

"It was probably one of the best barbecues I've seen," Lyon told the ABC. "It came out of the blue. They were doing it pretty easy out there.

"I know pressure does funny things and we were able to build that little bit of pressure – that's what it felt like anyway. Silly run-outs are coach killers, aren't they?"

Kohli had already been squarely in the spotlight as a record second-day Melbourne crowd, and millions more on television, watched his every move after his bump on Konstas earnt him a slap on the wrist from the game's governing body.

He began the day proudly exhibiting a typical combination of gusto and defiance, and then commenced his batting innings in a manner that had his opponents fearing he had saved a huge innings for exactly this kind of moment.

But Kohli finished day two having played a major hand in derailing his team's innings on arguably the best batting surface of the series, nicking off to Boland for 36 seven balls after the mix-up with Jaiswal.

Australia's attempts to lure him into poking at deliveries on a wider line had been fruitless until the Jaiswal mix-up changed the complexion of the match – and possibly muddled the legend’s own thinking.

"He looked really good today. I thought, 'Geez, he's in for a good one here'," Steve Smith told reporters after he scored his second century in as many Tests.

"It was probably the first ball I think he actually played out on that fifth, sixth stump line. He was really disciplined today, he was leaving nicely, making the bowlers come to him a bit more, and scoring well through the leg side when we went short.

"I thought we were in for a bit of a masterclass there. But fortunately ‘Barrel’ (Boland) got one to straighten off the line on that fifth, sixth stump and that was probably was one of the only ones (on that line) he played at. It was fortunate to catch the edge."

With all eyes on him before play on Friday, Kohli was called on to rev up teammates in their huddle around half-an-hour before play. Despite the impassioned nature of his address, it seemed unlikely his run-in with Konstas was among the topics of discussion during the lengthy chat.

If nothing else, it highlighted the extent to which Kohli remains a leader within this Indian group despite stepping down as captain almost three years ago.

His feisty nature is more in keeping with coach Gautam Gambhir's own personality than the measured Rohit Sharma, whose ability to lead from the front in this series has been curtailed by enduring statistically the worst tour with the bat by a touring Test captain ever to come to Australia.

Rohit's dismissal for 3 to Cummins saw his series average fall to 5.50, the lowest by a visiting skipper to have played at least two Tests in a series on these shores, calling into question his call to elevate himself from No.6 and break up the successful Jaiswal-KL Rahul opening partnership.

Kohli had revelled in the role of chief antagonist in the field on Friday, signalling to Bay 13 that he could not hear their boos and chants when stationed by Rohit at a fine deep third man.

His contact with Smith after the latter posted his 34th Test hundred was more polite than his brush with Konstas the previous day; Kohli patted his fellow batting doyen on the back not long after Smith’s batting partner Cummins broke off their embrace.

Kohli appeared to have seized his opportunity to respond as Jaiswal's blazing stroke-play allowed the right-hander to play second fiddle in their chanceless second-wicket stand. He passed double-digits for only the second time in six innings in this series; his 100no in Perth ominously marked the only other occasion.

The exit of both Jaiswal and Kohli in the space of seven balls, with the kicker coming when nightwatchman Akash Deep was caught by Lyon, spiked what was shaping as a classic Kohli response to a controversy most agreed he had brought on himself.

The mix-up with Jaiswal begged the question – who would Australia have preferred to have dismissed?

"I'm not answering that!" a laughing Smith when that hypothetical was put to him.

"They're were both looking really good. Jaiswal played a nice innings today, aggressive, hit any loose ball that was bowled basically and Virat looked like he was in for a bit of a masterclass, the way he started and the patience that he showed.

"So at that stage, we'd probably take any of them.

"Sometimes when you have one of those things happen and you break a partnership, you can get that other guy out quickly and it happened today, which was good for us."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal