Australia vs India: Mitchell Johnson begins the war of words ahead of the tour

Kohli and Johnson have the history of heated arguments on the field.

Published - 17 Nov 2018, 12:39 IST | Updated - 17 Nov 2018, 12:39 IST

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The battle between India and Australia across any format is always a treat to watch. There is always a needle between the players when on the 22 yards which spurs the best out of them. Having said that, the current Australian team is struggling and after what transpired at Newlands earlier this year, it seems that they won’t be getting involved in any such altercations during the series. Even the Indian captain Virat Kohli went on to say that they never started the banter and would love to play the game the fair way.

But Kohli has had the history of giving fiery send-offs to the opposition batsmen. Even in the recent England tour, he was in the thick of the things and had even mocked his counterpart Joe Root for his mic-drop celebration. When asked about sledging the opposition down under during the press conference before embarking on the tour, Kohli was keen on concentrating on their own game and cleared that they will not start anything.

“When it comes to getting engaged in an argument on the field, or in a fight as people want to call it excitedly, I have been completely OK playing without an altercation. If they want to play a certain way we will reciprocate in that way, that’s how the game of cricket goes,” he said.

Johnson takes a jibe

During India’s previous Australia tour, Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson were involved in a heated argument constantly. The latter had thrown the ball at the batsman which Kohli didn’t like at all and the incident spurred him up for the whole series. He went on to smash four centuries in as many matches and would be looking to replicate a similar kind of form this time as well.

Meanwhile, Johnson, despite retiring from the game, hasn’t done with the Indian captain and cautioned him to control his send-offs as well. “I look forward to no Virat send offs,”Johnson wrote on his official Twitter handle in response to Kohli’s sledge-free summer in Australia.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out when especially the Test series gets underway on December 6 and it goes without saying that the on-field proceedings will be heated at some point.