The recently-retired former South Africa captain Dean Elgar made shocking revelations about his first on-field tussle with Virat Kohli, saying that the Indian cricketer 'spat' at him during a Test match in India in 2015.

The incident took place during the first match of a four-Test series in Mohali, where Kohli had a go at Elgar and the Protea batter didn't shy away from giving it back.

"Those wickets were jokes. Like playing on that... that surface there. And I came into bat and I was actually like holding my own against Ashwin and what's his name, Jeja, Jeja, Jeja (Ravindra Jadeja) (smiles) and Kohli, he like spat at me," Elgar said on "Banter, with The Boys" podcast in Betway South Africa's YouTube channel.

"I said to him if you do that, I'll *** you with this bat," he said, using a local profanity.

On being asked if Kohli knew the meaning of the word, Elgar replied, "Yes, he did because de Villiers was his teammate at RCB, so he understood.

"And I said if you do that, … I'll absolutely knock you out. And then [he said] 'Hey *** you, *** you'," he added.

Elgar also revealed that Kohli later regretted his actions and they buried the hatchet when India toured South Africa in 2017-18.

"Two-three years later, Kohli pulled me aside and said 'Listen, can we go and have a drink after the series. I want to apologise for my actions'. So we drank till 3 in the morning. This is when he used to drink," Elgar said.

The opener retired after a two-Test series against India at home, which ended 1-1.