You do not upset Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni because they thrive after confrontations: Dean Jones

Dean Jones, former Australian Cricketer and current Cricket commentator and analyst, gave his views on the approach of the Australians against Virat Kohli in the Test Series against India in 2018/19.

Jones, in an interview to Sportscreen, said that it was in their best interests that the Australians refrained from sledging Kohli. The 59 year old Victorian with 6,068 One Day International runs in 164 matches at 44.61 gave examples of how the Australian Cricket team of his time went quiet when the likes of Vivian Richards, Martin Crowe, Javed Miandad walked out to bat against them. He said, “I will 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.”

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A few days ago, former World Cup winning Australian skipper Michael Clarke claimed that the Australian team did not go after Kohli in terms of verbal duels in order to get lucrative deals in the IPL. Clarke had strong words against the approach, claiming that the Aussies ‘sucked up to the opposition’ in the Australian summer of 2018/19.

Jones, who scored a memorable double hundred in the Tied Test match of 1986 against India at Chennai, rubbished such claims made by Clarke, saying that Kohli does not have the authority to stop anyone from getting IPL deals.

“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,” Jones said.