When Mitchell Johnson felt sick after hitting Virat Kohli with a bouncer

Mitchell Johnson, following the latest trend of cricketers sharing their life stories through autobiographies has also released his autobiography – ‘Resilient’ on Monday. As expected, the fast bowler’s book had some startling revelations. In a series of revelations where he shared stories of cold wars with Shane Watson and Kevin Pietersen, Mitchell Johnson showed his emotional slide explaining how he felt when he knocked Virat Kohli down with one of his bouncers in the Adelaide test in 2014.

It was Australia’s first Test after the disheartening death of their beloved teammate Phillip Hughes and it certainly had a big impact on all the Aussie players. Johnson described Hughes’ death as one of the most horrible incidents of his life. He said that his whole outlook towards the game changed drastically after Hughes’ demise. He wrote, “I think I was in as good a place with my cricket as I had ever been, but my love of the game was put into perspective before the start of the 2014–15 season.”

He wrote that it was hard to play cricket the same way he did when Hughes was alive and his death has changed a lot of things.

Johnson has claimed that he was never the same bowler after Hughes’ death. One could see how worried Johnson was as soon as his bouncer hit Kohli and the Indian batsman fell on the ground. Instead of staring the batsman in his eyes, Johnson apologised to Kohli and asked him if he was fine. It was surprising for the fans to see the emotional side of Mitchell Johnson, a bowler who was hurling bouncers targeting the rib cage of the English batsmen in the Ashes just an year ago.

Johnson told: “It was my job to intimidate batsmen. To make them play from the fear of being hit by the ball. I questioned all of that. And when I did bowl a bouncer and hit Virat Kohli on the helmet in Adelaide during the first Test match after Hughesy’s death, I felt sick.”

The fearsome fast bowler also spoke about the guilt he felt for peppering the young Hughes in the nets sharing the incidence when he took out all his frustration while bowling to him in the nets. He said: “I had no idea that the consequences could be so fatal and the memories of that session fills me with dread.”

It is evident from his words that Johnson was clearly hurt after losing his friend. At the beginning of Australia’s next home season against New Zealand, Johnson announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect declaring the first test against New Zealand at Perth as his last stating that he is struggling to enjoy the game in the similar way. It won’t be completely wrong to say that Hughes’ death triggered the retirement for Johnson. The belief grew stronger when Johnson mentioned that it wasn’t a coincidence that a lot of members of the then Australian squad left the game gradually.