Stating that sledging cannot help in winning matches, former India batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth has repudiated Michael Clarke’s claims that the Australian team was being nice to Virat Kohli during the 2018/19 Test series in a bid to save their IPL contracts.
Clarke had said that the aura of Kohli has had a huge impact on Australian cricketers as they were scared to “sledge” the Indian captain and “sucked up” to him to protect their IPL deals.
The 2015 World Cup-winning skipper added that there was a phase in his country’s cricket and in other teams as well where the players believed sledging Kohli or other big Indian players may jeopardise their IPL career.
India won the 2018/19 Test series in Australia 2-1. The feat was unprecedented in the illustrious history of the two teams.
“You do not win matches just by sledging. Aussie’s loss is a loss, his (Clarke) statement was ridiculous I would say,” Srikkanth said while speaking on Star Sports ‘Cricket Connected’ show.
“If you ask Nasser Hussain or Sir Vivian Richards who are experienced players, you can never score runs or get wickets through sledging.
“You need to play good cricket and showcase determination; you need to bowl well to get wickets and bat well to achieve targets. Sledging cannot help in any way according to my opinion,” he added.
Responding to Clarke’s claim, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine had said that his team didn’t provoke the India skipper because he plays at his best in such situations while country’s pacer Pat Cummins had said that they were looking to play “less aggressively” to revive the image of Australian cricket after the ball-tampering scandal had put that in shambles.