VIDEO| Kohli’s peace talks go down the drain as Willey and Bhuvi engage in verbal spat in very first innings

Any series between India and England has always been about headline-making proclamations of intent and how the teams are ready for "not-an-inch-given" attitude. However, on the eve of the much-anticipated, two-month-long bilateral series between the two countries, there was no tension cutting through the air. The Indian skipper the chatter down an unexpected road and talked about how the IPL has helped break the barriers and how the relationships being fostered between the players of the two sides thanks to England’s 13 participants this season which is their most-ever. 

"It is going to make relations between the two teams even better. I think because England haven't played so much IPL cricket, there was never that familiarity or that sort of warmth between the two teams as much as we have with the other teams, purely because we didn't know the guys enough to be able to have conversations with them. I think this season has broken that barrier to a great extent," Kohli had said.

While IPL seems to have cut through the ice for the players, it seemed like the ensuing series will help the teams engage in more friendly exchanges and the verbal spat would take a backseat for a change. However, just as the very first innings of the tour was coming to a close, the words of warmth went down the drain as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David Willey exchanged some choice words. 

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