Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson are two fiery characters, former on-field rivals and perhaps among the best in their domains to represent their countries.
Though one is now retired and the other, aged 36, probably playing his last Australian tour, are still talked about for their rivalry in the famous 2014/15 BGT, which the Aussies won for the last time since.
Virat and then Australia captain Steve Smith had a bumper series, with both surpassing 650 runs in four Tests, hitting four centuries each; however, there was more to that. Johnson and Kohli’s face-off was one of the most intriguing battles, with fans, broadcasters and media equally invested.
Johnson, however, admitted enjoying going up against Kohli in that series, revealing the real reason behind doing that.
“I had a well-publicised personal rivalry with Kohli. We had many interactions on the field and I enjoyed it. While I didn’t know him off the field, on the field we probably played the game in a similar way – taking the game on and not backing down,” Johnson wrote in his column for ‘The West Australian’.
“Some don’t like that style of cricket and prefer there’s no chat with the opposition, but I enjoyed that part of the game. I would become frustrated during some of our battles, but I also enjoyed that he kept coming at me. It’s always a nice feeling to get one of the best out, and likewise, I’m sure he enjoyed taking me down and hitting me for a four or a six,” he continued.
When Kohli riled up Johnson
Meanwhile, Johnson remised one of the incidents that flared up the rivalry, mentioning how Virat’s comments after a day’s play at the MCG annoyed the Aussie quick.
It all began when Johnson threw a ball towards the stumps during day two of the third Test, hitting Kohli on the body, who tried ducking it initially. Though Johnson revealed his purpose in doing that was to hit the stumps and not harm Kohli, it led to a heated glare between the two.
“Most of our differences stemmed from the Boxing Day Test in 2014 when a ball I threw hit him on the body. I was legitimately trying to run him out, but he didn’t like what I did. He made some comments in the media that night about having no respect for me as a player, which annoyed me,” Johnson wrote.
“The goal from our point of view was generally to get Kohli riled up as soon as he came out to bat and take his focus away from his skills. Get him annoyed and get him playing a big shot early,” he added.
Although Australia almost won that psychological battle against him as Kohli played some unnecessary shots, leading to him finding an edge only for the fielders to drop him, the Indian batting star stood tall in the end, scoring a magnificent 169 and winning this encounter against Johnson.
“In that Test match at the MCG, we got him off guard early and had him playing at a ball he didn’t need to in frustration and, unfortunately, we dropped him on not many. He then focused and harnessed his energy and piled on the runs – all 169 of them,” Johnson recalled.
Meanwhile, Kohli will be back in action for the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting with the Perth Test on November 22.
