Australia Test captain Tim Paine has disproved former Australia captain Michael Clarke’s recent statement regarding Australian players “sucking up” to the Indian players especially captain Virat Kohli to make sure they get to play in the Indian Premier League.
“Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, whether that be internationally or domestically in regards to the IPL.
Don’t pick fights with Virat Kohli to keep him quiet, not to save IPL contracts: Australia Test captain Tim Paine. #Kohli #TimPaine #IPL
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 9, 2020
“So, I feel, Australian cricket, and probably every other team, over a little period went the opposite – actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or sledge the Indian players because they had to go and play with them in April,” Clarke was quoted as saying during the Big Sports Breakfast radio programme earlier this week.
Tim Paine disproves Michael Clarke’s statement
Speaking in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Paine didn’t hesitate from mentioning that he didn’t notice people being nice to Kohli and each player was doing his best to win the match for Australia.
“I certainly didn’t notice too many people being that nice to Virat [Kohli] or not trying to get him out or anything like that. I thought everyone who had the ball in their hand or when we were batting were trying their absolute best to win the game for Australia. I’m not sure who was going easy on him; we certainly had a thing where we didn’t want to provoke any fight with him because we think that’s when he plays at his best,” Paine was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Paine, 35, further highlighted how he was involved in a few heated arguments during India’s previous tour of Australia. Announced as Australia’s captain after Steve Smith was banned for a year, Paine said with surety that his players don’t think about IPL contracts while playing against Kohli.
“Who knows what will happen this series and, as we saw in the documentary, there was still quite a lot of heat in some of those games.
“I certainly wasn’t holding back, but again the IPL’s not a huge draw for me at the moment, so I had nothing to lose. But anytime our guys go out and play a Test match for Australia, they’ll be giving their absolute all and I’m pretty sure they’re not thinking about an IPL contract when they’re running in, bowling to Virat,” Paine added.
