Virat Kohli gets away with a lot more than most cricketers, says Mitchell Johnson
Mitchell Johnson was highly critical of Virat Kohli’s on-field antics during the second Test loss in Perth on the weekend as he accused the Indian captain of being disrespectful towards the crowd and the home team. Johnson added that Kohli’s behavior as captain is unacceptable at times.
Team India fell to a 146-run defeat in the second Test outing at the newly constructed stadium in Perth as the hosts’ managed to bounce back and level the series 1-1 after two matches. The home team deserved all the praise that came their way after an
However, one of the topics of debate after the conclusion of the second Test, was the behavior of visiting captain - Virat Kohli. Former Australian pacer, Mitchell Johnson, also criticised the 30-year old batsman for his on-field banter with opposition skipper Tim Paine after the duo ended up exchanging a good amount of words with each other on the pitch.
"In the first innings he scored a brilliant hundred and walked off to a standing ovation but he failed to acknowledge the crowd because he felt hard done by after Peter Handscomb’s catch. To me the catch was given out so you accept it and move on and as a player who has scored a hundred you acknowledge the standing ovation. Kohli gets away with more than most cricketers simply because he is Virat Kohli and he gets placed on a pedestal but this Test left the Indian captain looking silly.
"He is the No.1 batsman in the world at the moment and what he does for his team is great but I’m not sure this is how your captain should behave. At the end of the day Tim Paine has handled himself superbly. He was not going to bow down to the Indian captain and he stood up for his team. That’s what the captain should do and he did it in the right manner," Johnson wrote in his column for Foxsports.
Mitchell, who represented Australia 73 Test matches and picked 313 wickets, also shed light on his altercation with the Indian batsman that took place back in 2014 at the MCG. The Australian pacer added that he apologised to Kohli immediately but that was not enough for the Indian skipper.
"It should be said that Kohli and I have our differences and it all stems back to 2014 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when he drove a ball back to me and I threw it back. I was aiming for the stumps because he had left his crease, but unfortunately the throw hit him instead.
"I apologised immediately because that obviously was not my intention but it sparked a heated debate. After play he came out and said he had “no reason to respect” me. He lost me then. If he ever wanted to sit down for a coffee to chat about our differences, I would be open to it but I’m sure he has better things to do," Johnson added.
