Dean Jones talks about why the Australians didn't sledge Virat Kohli

Former Australian batsmen Dean Jones has weighed in on Michael Clarke’s controversial statement of Australians sucking up to Indians during the 2018-19 Test match series. Clarke had earlier suggested that the Australian team went easy on Kohli to protect their lucrative IPL contracts.

In an interview with SportScreen, Dean Jones said that the real reason the Australians went quiet against Virat Kohli was because they didn’t want to rile up the Indian skipper. Dean Jones talked about the Australian team he was part of, and said that they gave similar treatment to other confrontational players.

He said:

“I’ll tell you the reason why they went quiet on Virat. Because we went quiet when Viv Richards came out to bat. We went quiet on Javed Miandad, on Martin Crowe. 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,” said Dean Jones.

Dean Jones gave examples of Michael Jordan in ‘The Last Dance’ (Netflix documentary), where Jordan used to pick fights just to fire himself up.

"Similarly, players like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni use confrontation as an opportunity to get in the groove of the game," said Jones.

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Dean Jones responds to Clarke's statement on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has been known to wear his heart on his sleeve, and doesn’t shy away from giving oppositions a piece of his mind. Virat Kohli, more often than not, thrives under such pressure situations when opponents try to get under his skin.

When asked if the Australians toned down the sledging against Virat Kohli and co to land lucrative IPL deals, the Karachi Kings head coach Dean Jones called Michael Clarke’s statement ‘a bit rubbish’.

“Don’t give them any oxygen. 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,” he added.

Dean Jones' statement comes at the heels of another Australian great Jason Gillespie’s comments.

In an exclusive chat with Indranil Basu yesterday, the former speedster had also dubbed Michael Clarke’s “sucking up to Indians” statement a bit of nonsense.