Prime Minister Narendra Modi injected some humour into his address to Australia's parliament on Tuesday, using the term "shirtfront" to make fun of his host while also talking cricket, reports AFP.

Modi's official visit, the first by an Indian leader in 28 years, follows on from Prime Minister Tony Abbott's hosting of G20 world leaders in Brisbane on the weekend.

"(As) the third head of the government you are listening to this week, I do not know how you are doing this," Modi told members of parliament, who were addressed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday and Britain's David Cameron last Friday. "Maybe this is Prime Minister Abbott's way of shirtfronting you!"

Abbott made "shirtfront" -- which describes a confrontation in Australian Rules Football -- a global concept when in October he threatened to do it to Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G20 over the crisis in Ukraine.

In the end, the two men were all smiles for the cameras. Modi is the second leader to use the obscure term in his address, after Cameron recalled his concern when Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was purposefully heading his way at a summit in Italy.