Matthew Hayden said on Thursday that he is not surprised by the constant friction in matches between Australia and India as the embittered sides prepare for next week's third Test.
The current tour has witnessed verbal clashes between players with Indian paceman Zaheer Khan fined 80 percent of his match fee for violating the code of conduct after verbally abusing Hayden in the second Test in Mohali.
India, who lead the four-match series 1-0, almost pulled out of their Australian tour in January after spinner Harbhajan Singh was initially banned for racially abusing Andrew Symonds before being reduced to a fine for using obscene language.
"We always have some tension. That is exactly why we want to see our athletes playing the game. That tension is mounted over five days, mounted over a window of 13 days, in so far as what we have seen in these two test matches," Hayden told reporters.
"That is why I also, as a spectator, want to see that ability to gnash teeth. I want to see that competitive edge.
"Two hungry dogs, if you can use the metaphor, that circle each other in a ring."
Hayden said that but for the fine on Zaheer Khan, the teams, who square up again in New Delhi on Wednesday, have not overstepped the mark this time.
"Apart from that the sides have been playing good cricket, strong cricket," he said. "India has got the best of us at this stage. I'm very excited about the next two games."
