On-field relations between India and Australia are perhaps at their lowest ebb ever, with the danger of things getting out of hand quite genuine. Ahead of the finals starting at the SCG on Sunday, Mahendra Singh Dhoni urged his young team to learn not to respond to any acts of provocation.

Asked if he expected more acrimony, the Indian skipper said, “That was the scene in the last instance. It has been going on for a long time. We have to be careful about it and if they provoke us, we need to mind what we say. If your youngsters get fined for things like that — Ishant just reacted to what Symonds said. It’s an art and they are good at it, but the Indians will learn soon.”

Dhoni was then queried about whether relations between India and Australia can ever become friendly. “It has never been friendly," he replied. "Cricket can never be friendly. There will be aggression, and that is fine so long as it is within limits.”

It was inevitable, given the events of the last two days, that Dhoni’s wicket-keeping gloves, deemed illegal by the ICC, would figure in the discussions. The Indian captain was forced to shed the gloves he used to catch Adam Gilchrist at the SCG on Sunday. "The gloves are okay, but if it was getting close to the line between being legal and illegal, I thought there is no point in getting into controversy. I don't think the webbing helps you too much. No more than five out of my 100 one-day catches would have stuck in the webbing. It is mostly the hands that hold the catches. When you have seven pairs in the bag, might as well use some other pair than a controversial one!”