Mitchell Johnson hits back after Times of India stands by its interview of the bowler

Johnson hits back.

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Mitchell Johnson
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Mitchell Johnson. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

The feud between former Australia speedster Mitchell Johnson and Indian news daily The Times of India continues to roll on. The whole episode began when the news outlet published an interview of Johnson on Sunday. The English daily had put on a story conducted by journalist Sumit Mukherjee, with Melbourne in the dateline. The journalist is covering India’s ongoing tour of Australia for the daily.

Published in a Q&A format, the interview quoted Johnson giving his opinion on the pace attacks of both Australia and India. The daily quoted the legendary pacer as saying that Jasprit Bumrah is the best Indian pacer at the moment and is ‘hard to score off and any batsman will think twice before taking him on’.

However, things took a bizarre turn when Johnson found out the interview being published despite him not giving one. He took to Twitter late on Sunday saying that he was not in Melbourne and also did not recall giving an interview to Mukherjee.

In another tweet, where Johnson quoted the International Cricket Council’s curation of the same interview, the left-arm pacer said he does ‘agree with parts of it but I never sat down with anyone from memory’.

Johnson, while replying to a fan’s tweet, also pointed out that he had not agreed for an interview during the first two Tests, writing, “I never had a Q&A with an Indian journalist & I’m not in Melbourne. I did talk to many journalists casually through the first 2 test matches but I never agreed to an interview or on the record chats. If the journalist reported a chat I had with others, that’s a privacy issue?”

The Times of India was also quick to reveal its side of the story, issuing a statement on Twitter saying it stood by Mukherjee.  In order to back their claims, the daily also posted a photo of Mukherjee and Johnson together, claiming it to be proof that the interview took place.

Johnson hits back

Johnson, however, is in no mood to let the daily get away after committing the blunder as he too issued a statement to make things further clear. He posted a statement, containing five points to clear his side of the story as he once again pointed out that he never sat with Mukherjee for an interview.

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