Dean Jones, the former Australia batsman, has spoken of the dangers of sledging Virat Kohli, saying the India captain thrived on that confrontation.
Michael Clarke, the former Australia captain, had said in April that his one-time team-mates were too soft on India during their 2018-19 series, accusing them of being too scared to sledge Kohli and Rohit Sharma as it could put their IPL contracts in jeopardy.
However, Jones has now offered another explanation for why Australians were accused of not being aggressive towards Kohli. “I’ll tell you the reason why they went quiet on Virat,” Jones told Sportscreen on YouTube. “Because we went quiet when Viv Richards came out to bat. We went quiet on Javed Miandad, on Martin Crowe.
“They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April.”https://t.co/HrViT8xa4f
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 7, 2020
“And there is a reason behind that – You don’t upset the bear, you don’t upset Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni, because this is what they like, a confrontation. Don’t give them any oxygen. There’s something in that, you don’t upset certain guys.”
Jones also rubbished the notion that the Australians’ attitude to Kohli in their last series had anything to do with the IPL. “But I find this reason about not upsetting Virat because of IPL contracts a bit rubbish. Is Virat going to stop anyone from playing? That is down to the coaches and managers.”
