Temperamental India speedster S Sreesanth was involved in a brief altercation with Australian captain Ricky Ponting during the World Cup warm-up game in Bangalore.

Sreesanth, who was drafted in the 15-member Indian squad due to non-recovery of Praveen Kumar from injury, exchanged words with Ponting twice during Australia's run chase at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Ponting, who returned to competitive cricket for the first time after injuring his finger in the second Ashes Test last December, was beaten on quite a few occasions in the 10th over of the Australian innings bowled by Sreesanth.

A pumped up Sreesanth went up to Ponting to say a few words to which the Australian skipper responded verbally. Next ball a loud shout for caught behind was turned down by the umpire and Sreesanth expressed his frustration with signs by his hands.

Sreesanth took one wicket at the expense of 21 runs from his five overs.