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During the World Cup Super Eights battle between the Ashes rivals, English middle-order batsman Kevin Pietersen and Australian captain Ricky Ponting were engaged in a war of words.

Heat grew as both teams struggled to deal with pressures of a key World Cup match which eventually saw Australia winning by seven wickets in Antigua on Sunday.

Pietersen’s first verbal duel was with the Australia captain Ricky Ponting after maverick England batsman, who struck a rather sedate ton in the match, continued with his tactic of charging McGrath.

Pietersen came dancing down the track to slap McGrath to mid-wicket boundary and again charged down attempting a pull in 12th over.

Pietersen’s audacious shots irked Ponting and soon the pair was spotted arguing mid-pitch and continued even when batsman stood waiting for next over to begin at non-striker’s end, The Australian newspaper reported.

Ponting was further exasperated when he grassed a difficult one-handed chance at mid-wicket off Pietersen when the batsman had just reached 50.

Source:The News