Australia, India retain top two spots in World Test Championship standings

However, the match saw star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja suffering a thumb fracture and Hanuma Vihari, who batted for 160 balls for his 23, suffer a hamstring injury.

Paine: "At least my team-mates like me". I've got a lot more Indian friends than you do.

Australia's famed bowling attack threw everything at India on the fifth day but couldn't break their resolve as the visitors hung on for a memorable draw at the SCG.

He was replaced by Paine as the Australian captain.

The last remark - complete with expletive - wasn't even new material from Paine, who used the same insult against Virat Kohliexternal-link on India's previous tour in 2018.

Despite the dropped catches Paine continued his attempts to distract India batsmen.

At the age of 36, almost 18 months after he had originally pondered retirement at the end of the 2019 Ashes, Paine is well aware that in terms of both performance and behaviour he can not afford anymore days like the final one of the SCG Test, and made that much patently clear after jumping into the media seat as a last-minute substitute for Nathan Lyon. I pride myself on my wicketkeeping.

Tim Paine has apologised for a "really poor game as leader" in the third Test - one that Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar says could spark the end of his Australian captaincy. I'm a captain who wants to play the game with a smile on their face and yesterday I fell short of my expectations and our team standards.

"It's a terrible feeling knowing that our fast bowlers and our spinner bowled their hearts out and gave everything to the team".

"India again are going to have a couple of injury concerns out of this game so they've got to find another couple of guys to bring in".

Stump microphones picked up Paine making a series of verbal jabs at Ashwin.

India's Rishabh Pant scored 97 in an aggressive knock that gave his side hope for an unlikely victory. Was it a deliberate attempt to alter the surface or just one of Smith's idiosyncrasies?

Some media outlets claimed Smith risked being charged by the match referee, likening it to deliberate running on the pitch, while former England captain Michael Vaughan termed it "very, very poor".

BBC Sport has contacted Cricket Australia for comment.

Rishabh Pant may not be the finished article as a wicketkeeper but India are ready to be patient with the exciting talent whose spectacular counter-attacking knock helped them pull off a great escape in the third test against Australia.

First it was the racist slurs from the crowd, then it was a heated exchange between India's Ravichandran Ashwin and Tim Paine.

Pant's keeping was criticised after he dropped Australia opener Will Pucovski twice on the opening day but his batting heroics underlined why India keep playing him ahead of the technically superior Wriddhiman Saha.