Mitchell Johnson Takes Another Sly Dig At Virat Kohli

That Mitchell Johnson does not share a good rapport with Virat Kohli is very much clear now.  The history between the two dates a long way back. In 2014 at Melbourne, Johnson had thrown the ball and hit Kohli when attempting a run out, sparking a heated debate.

“After play he came out and said he had ‘no reason to respect’ me. He lost me then,” Johnson had famously said after that heated moment.

Since then, the former Australia speedster has targeted Kohli every now and then. He recently slammed Kohli as “disrespectful” and “silly” for his on-field behaviour in the second Test against Australia. Kohli and Tim Paine were involved in several verbal duels in the second game. The game then ended on a sour note as Kohli gave a frosty handshake to Paine, looking in no mood to do the formalities after India lost the game by 146 runs.

“At the end of the match, you should be able to look each other in the eyes, shake hands and say ‘great contest’,” Johnson wrote in a column for Fox Sports.“Virat Kohli could not do that with Tim Paine, shaking the Australian captain’s hand but barely making eye contact with him. To me, that is disrespectful.”

And now Johnson has made another interesting remark just ahead of the third Test in Melbourne. Taking a dig at Kohli, the Ashes-winning pacer said that Ajinkya Rahane ‘would be a great captain’. Johnson had made a similar remark against Kohli after the third Test of the last Border-Gavaskar series in India.

It all began when an India fan asked Johnson to stop his anti-Kohli comments.

@MitchJohnson398  U r doing it again, in the last ausie tour of India u said ” rahane is better  than Kohli in captaining d team”,,please stop dis for our Indian fans sake..,” wrote the fan.

@MitchJohnson398
U r doing it again, in the last ausie tour of India u said " rahane is better
than Kohli in captaining d team",,please stop dis for our Indian fans sake..

— Anupoju Sai Chandra (@chandu_131097) December 22, 2018

Johnson was quick to notice the tweet and reiterated his pick for India skipper, writing:

“Rahane would be a great captain, he has a great temperament, he is fierce, competitive, has some great aggression & body language & he wouldn’t make it all about himself. Would be a great example for the youth coming through,” wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MitchJohnson398/status/1076384455781052416?

The four-match series, meanwhile, is currently locked at 1-1. The third Test begins on December 26 in Melbourne.