Mitchell Johnson talks about his relationship with Virat Kohli and IPL fan experience
The former Australian left-arm pace bowler, Mitchell Johnson has mentioned about his Indian Premier League experience, the frenzied IPL aficionados and his fascinating rivalry with the 27-year-old Indian test captain, Virat Kohli in a column for Fox Sports.
Also read: Why CSK and RR won't be playing this IPL
The 34-year-old cricketer from Queensland has picked up over 550 international wickets for the Baggy Greens in the 226 appearances (Tests and ODIs combined) that he has made for them.
He has been a part of the Indian Premier League since 2012 and has represented a couple of IPL teams namely, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. Johnson will be flaunting his Punjab outfit this year as well in what might be the last IPL season of his career.
The Australian speedster has been quite successful in the Indian Premier League previously, picking up 49 wickets in the 38 matches that he has played with a career-best bowling figure of 3 for 27.
According to a recent column that he has written for Fox Sports, “I being a cricketer in India is unlike any other job in the world. The sheer number of fans here and the passion they have for the game makes the time I spend off the field in India almost as intense as the time I spend on it.”
“Don’t get me wrong – the supporters here are amazing and as players we appreciate their incredible commitment to cricket. I’ve always been understanding of what life is like in India and how different it is to Australia. It’s just that on occasions, things have threatened to get a little out of hand.”
The Kings XI Punjab man later backed his statement by saying, “After having a quiet meal with a couple of my Kings XI Punjab teammates in a Dharamsala restaurant, we began to make our way to the exit. As we walked down several flights of stairs people began to notice us, and seemingly within seconds there were people hanging off doors just to get a look at us.”
“Eventually, we made it to our car and there were just people everywhere. Things soon escalated and before I knew it I had people grabbing onto me, just trying to touch me. I had to whack their arms off me just to get into the car. Then they started shaking the car.”
Later he added, “It was a whole new experience and pretty crazy. However I want to make it clear the people that day had no intention of hurting me - they’re just so fanatical and so excited to see cricketers and this is the way they express that fanaticism.”
While talking about Virat Kohli and his rivalry with the charismatic Indian batsman, Johnson wrote, “We’ve had our differences and most of it stems from the 2014 Adelaide Test, when a ball I threw hit Virat on the body. I was legitimately trying to run him out but he didn’t like what I did.”
“When he made some comment in the media that night about having no respect for me as a player, that’s when I got really annoyed.”
“Having said that, Virat is the kind of player you’d want in your team. He’s a real fighter and to be honest he’s a bit like most of us were in the Australian team. We go pretty hard on the field, and he’s got that about him as well.”
“He’s a fiery character and he pushes the boundaries, just like I’ve always tried to do. Maybe that’s why we’ve clashed so often.”