Pat Cummins responds to Michael Clarke's allegations on sledging Virat Kohli

Australian all-rounder, Pat Cummins has responded to Michael Clarke's allegations of Australian cricketers softening up to protect their IPL contracts.

Cummins, who is the number one ranked Test bowler in the world, explained that the attitude shift was only because of the pressure that was being applied by the media and fans on the team post the Sandpaper gate incident.

A few days ago, Clarke said that the attitude of the Australian players changed during India's tour of Australia back in December 2018. The former Australia captain expressed his thoughts on how the home team did not sledge Virat Kohli or the Indian team to steer away from strained personal relations before the IPL.

"I think probably a bigger factor was six months before leading into that Indian series, the media and everyone commentating on the Aussie cricket team were pretty clear in their direction in the way they wanted the Aussies team to go and that was playing a little bit less aggressively out on the field," Cummins was quoted saying by the BBC.

Clarke was of the opinion that Australia handed a 2-1 series win to India because of the shift in character, but Cummins attributed the 'softness' to the path of recovery that Australian cricket was supposedly taking post the incident.

"I'd say that would have been a bigger factor than trying to win or lose friends out on the cricket field. But you never know, that might have been a factor for some players," Cummins added.