As the ugly altercation between Australia batsman David Warner and South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock is growing into a cricket hot potato, former Australia skipper Shane Warne advised players to stop "whinging" about sledging.
Warne's comments have come after a CCTV footage showed Warner and de Kock involved in a heated exchange as the players from both the teams were making their way to the respective dressing rooms during the tea session on the fourth day of the Durban Test.
The confrontation was so severe that Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine had to calm Warner down, while batsman Usman Khawaja held him back. Ultimately, skipper Steven Smith had to whisk him away from the scene.
According to media reports, the incident has been handed in the hands of on-field umpires and match referee.
Taking on to twitter, Warne wrote, "Chat, banter, sledging has always been a part of any series between SA & Oz. Both sides always give it out."
"Respect is the key & and I hope nothing personal was said to any player towards anyone from either side. Have a beer together afterwards & get on with it - stop the whinging!," he said in a series of tweet.
Former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith also reflected his views on the incident and suggested players to draw line at personal taunts.
"Play the game hard, play the game competitively. Any bit of banter in the spirit of the game I think is good, I mean I played the game hard myself, it's just part and parcel of how you do it. But I think there are certain boundaries, it's unnecessary to cross them. It's unnecessary to take it to places that it sometimes went," cricket.com.au quoted Smith as saying.
It was the second heated incident involving Warner, who, along with Nathan Lyon, could be scrutinised over their conduct in celebrating the run-out of AB de Villiers earlier in the Test series opener.
This was not the first time that Warner has been involved in getting fired up against the South Africans.
During the Test series in 2014, the left-handed batsman was fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for questioning whether then Proteas captain de Villiers had tampered with the ball during a radio interview after the second Test in Port Elizabeth. (ANI)