Former Australia batsman Dean Jones reveals the reason why the Australian team today don’t sledge Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. He stated that great players like Dhoni and Kohli are at their best when the opposition sledges them. Similarly, when he played for Australia, his side never sledged the likes of Viv Richards, Martin Crowe and Javed Miandad.
During the last Test series of India and Australia, the Aussies made a conscious effort of not sledging Kohli when he was batting. Even in the documentary ‘The Test’ it was clearly shown that Tim Paine wanted his team to stay away from Kohli when he batted.
Dean Jones reveals why Australia don’t sledge Kohli & Dhoni
The natural instincts of an Australian side have always been to intimidate and never back down against any opposition. But Jones pointed out that against great players from over the years the Aussie sides have curbed their natural instincts.
“I’ll tell you the reason why they went quiet on Virat. Because we went quiet when Viv Richards came out to bat. We went quiet on Javed Miandad, on Martin Crowe. And there is a reason behind that. You don’t upset the bear, you don’t upset Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni because this is what they like a confrontation,” Dean Jones said on Sportscreen’s YouTube channel.
Recently, Micheal Clarke had stated that the Aussies were easy on Kohli as they were worried about their IPL contracts. Tim Paine’s side seemed scared of Virat as if he will stop anyone from playing in the IPL. Jones doesn’t seem to agree with that logic and pointed out that coaches and managers only stop anyone from playing in the team.
“Don’t give them any oxygen. But I find this reason about not upsetting Virat because of IPL contracts a bit of rubbish. Is Virat going to stop anyone from playing? That is down to the coaches and managers”, said Dean Jones who represented Australia in 164 ODIs and 52 Tests.