Mitchell Johnson has recently garnered attention for his altercation with David Warner. However, before the dust could settle on that episode, the former Australian pacer has become embroiled in yet another controversy, this time due to his remarks concerning Virat Kohli. Johnson, who during his career was involved in several on-field arguments with Kohli, said a couple of things about the former India captain in reply to comments from his followers. Although these interactions took place two weeks ago, the comments have only recently surfaced, coinciding with the height of his publicised altercation with Warner.
When a user tried to irk Johnson by mentioning, 'Remember Virat Kohli?', the ex-speedster replied with a sarcastic 'Who?' But what really rubbed the fans the wrong way was Johnson calling Kohli the easiest wicket of his career. On one of his follower's posts, 'Bro, you are Virat's favourite bowler', Johnson went no-holds barred on Kohli and said 'He was my easiest to get out'.
Johnson and Kohli had a go at each other quite a few times during the 2014 Border Gavaskar Trophy, the series many believe where Kohli reached legendary status. He finished the four-Test series Down Under with 692 runs in eight innings at a mind-blowing average of 86.50, including four centuries. His twin hundreds in Adelaide – 115 and 141 – in his first Test match as captain got India on the brink of victory before Nathan Lyon wreaked havoc in the final two session on Day 5.
{{/usCountry}}Johnson and Kohli had a go at each other quite a few times during the 2014 Border Gavaskar Trophy, the series many believe where Kohli reached legendary status. He finished the four-Test series Down Under with 692 runs in eight innings at a mind-blowing average of 86.50, including four centuries. His twin hundreds in Adelaide – 115 and 141 – in his first Test match as captain got India on the brink of victory before Nathan Lyon wreaked havoc in the final two session on Day 5.
{{/usCountry}}During Kohli's marathon knocks, he and Johnson had a few fiery exchanges. Johnson in fact inadvertently even threw the ball back at Kohli and hit his body in the process. And although Johnson was quick to apologise, Kohli was having none of it. The barrage of on-field volleys spilled outside the ground too as Kohli minced no words regarding what transpired between him and the Australians and made it clear that he saw no grounds for respecting Johnson.
"I was really annoyed with him hitting me with the ball, and I told him that's not on," Kohli said at a press conference in the middle of the Test. "'Try and hit the stumps next time, not my body.' You have got to send the right message across. I am not there to take to some unnecessary words or chats from someone. I am going there to play cricket, back myself. There's no good reason that I should respect unnecessarily some people when they are not respecting me."
Johnson went on to dismiss Kohli four times in Tests. Johnson went on to dismiss Kohli four times in Tests. He notably silenced the Indian diaspora at the MCG during the 2015 World Cup semi-final between India and Australia, where he forced Kohli into a top edge, resulting in him getting out caught. Earlier this year, Johnson's mind had in fact harked back to his and Kohli's duel from nine years ago. Johnson had welcomed Kohli with a bouncer that hit him flush on the helmet.
"I think it was the first ball I bowled. I hit him on the helmet... on the badge... it was a different time. There was a bit going on with Phil Hughes' passing and that sort of shook us up. But even just after that you could see the determination on his face being struck on the helmet. Throughout the whole series, just that fight. It was an outstanding tour by India; they really did fight hard," the former Aussie quick had said while doing commentary in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.