How IPL contracts prevented Australia players from sledging Virat Kohli

Former Australia captain, Michael Clarke has expressed his thoughts on how the current crop of Australian cricketers steered away from sledging Virat Kohli or the Indian team to protect their Indian Premier League contracts.

In a chat with Big Sports Breakfast, Clarke went on to speak about how the Australian cricketers turned soft in their approach to ensure friendly relations with Indian cricketers ahead of the IPL in April 2019.

“I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April,” said Clarke.

Clarke shed light on how Indian cricket has grown as a cricketing powerhouse financially owing to the IPL, and the Australian cricketers did not sledge Kohli because of their desire to play in the cash-rich league.

"The players were like: “I’m not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million US for my six weeks,”" Clarke added.

The Virat Kohli-led side toured Australia in the December 2018-January 2019 window, winning the first and third Test match of the four-match Test series that saw the visitors register a 2-1 series win.

The 2015 World Cup-winning captain also lamented on how Australian cricket has become softer, a drift from the competitive attitude displayed by Australian cricket teams in the past.