India off-spinner R Ashwin has revealed how he angrily sledged Australia batsman Matt Renshaw during the 2017 Bengaluru Test, when he saw the opener’s ‘smirky smile’ during a frustrating phase of the game.

The 2017 India-Australia Test series was one of the most closely-fought contests on Indian soil in recent times, with the hosts claiming a crucial win in the Bengaluru Test after a loss in the opening game in Pune. Recalling an incident from Australia’s first innings, Ashwin said that the ball had stopped turning just a day after Nathan Lyon took eight wickets.

“Nathan Lyon got eight wickets in the first innings. He was running riot, but by the end of the first day, it stopped turning. It was damp,” Ashwin said in an Instagram Live chat with teammate Cheteshwar Pujara.

“Next day, I started bowling over the stumps to [David] Warner and Renshaw. I remember bowling to Renshaw, a couple of balls went here and there, to short leg, and he had this smirky smile so as to suggest they were on top of the game.

“All of a sudden, I got really angry because I was not getting wickets, and I told him ‘you better not defend, and make these runs because if you don’t [make these runs], in the fourth innings you guys won’t [even] make 100 runs’. I was angry and said it, but it eventually panned out.”

Replying to India’s first-innings score of 189, Australia secured an 87-run lead, putting further pressure on the Indian batsmen by sledging them in the second innings. Pujara recalled how Australia sledged as if they “they had already won the game”.

“I felt pressure when I walked into bat,” Pujara said. “The kind of sledging they did… I thought they were a little ahead of what they wanted to achieve. Their thought process was, they felt they had already won the game.

“By tea, I was with Ajinkya [Rahane], we were coming into the dressing room, and they were sledging as if they had won the game. That is when things did turn around, I felt.”

India set Australia a 188-run target, which they fell short of by 75 runs, with India eventually winning the series 2-1.