Australia Test skipper Tim Paine on Saturday (November 14) termed his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli as a polarising personality in his country, one who the Australians hate but also love to watch him bat.

See Also: “He's a human being like all of us”, Langer hails Kohli for putting family before cricket

India will play three ODIs, three T20Is, and four Tests in their upcoming tour Down Under, starting November 27.

Kohli will lead the side in both the white-ball series and the Test series opener in Adelaide before he returns home to be with his wife Anushka Sharma who is expecting their first child in January.

"I get asked a log of questions about Virat Kohli, he is just another player to me it does not really bother me. There is not really a relationship there with him to be fair, I see him at the toss and play against him and that's about it," Paine told ABC Sport.

"With Virat, it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we don't like seeing him score too many runs," he added.

Paine also made it clear that his team does not make an exception with Kohli when it comes to sledging.

"Australia and India, it is a heated competition and he is obviously a competitive person and so am I. There were a few occasions when we had words, but that wasn't because he was the captain and I was the captain. It could have been anyone," added Paine.

"There is always a bit more tension when a player is as good as he is. It's the same when you play against England, it's Joe Root or a Ben Stokes. It's often the best player is the one that your team goes up a little bit, the intensity goes up when the best players in the world come out to the crease," the Tasmanian said.

(With IANS inputs)