Michael Clarke’s former teammates were hardly on the same page with him when he claimed that IPL deals made current Australian cricketers go soft on captain Virat Kohli and other Indian players.
Clarke had recently said that Australians “sucked up” to India and were “too scared” to sledge Kohli and his teammates as they always have IPL contracts on their minds.
Mike Hussey, when asked about Clarke’s claim, said it was “a bit far-fetched.”
“It’s difficult for me to say as I don’t have much of an idea. Players closer to the Test team may know better, but I would doubt it.
“It seems a bit far-fetched to me,” the former Australia batsman told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
Matthew Hayden, one of Australia’s best opening batsmen and now a commentator (also for IPL matches), wouldn’t buy the idea at all.
“It’s rubbish. That’s all,” was his brief response.
Dean Jones, however, didn’t want to delve deep into Clarke’s comments.
“He has said on these lines before as well, so it’s nothing new. It’s his personal opinion. Maybe players can say it better,” the dashing Australia batsman of the 1980s and early 1990s said.
At a recent radio programme, Clarke said: “Everybody knows how powerful India are in the financial part of the game, whether internationally or in domestic meets like the IPL.
“So I feel Australian cricket, and probably every other team, over a little period had actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or other Indian players because they had to go and play with them in the IPL.
“So the players are like, ‘Well, I’m not going to sledge Kohli.
“I want him to pick me for (Royal Challengers) Bangalore so that I can make, you know, a million US dollars for my six weeks’. And I sort of feel that was when Australia went through that little phase of our cricket, and became a lot softer or not as hard as what we’re accustomed to seeing.”
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, on the other hand, feels current Australia players are smarter as they believe they can make a living out of playing in the IPL.
“I don’t think they are scared (of sledging the Indian players). They are quite smart. They know they can make a living out of playing in the IPL every season.
“Gone are those days when they used to bring their own food and water to our country and then also make a big fuss about it. But at present, all of them love Indian food and it makes me happy and proud about our culture and achievements.
“We welcome them here and treat them like our own, because that’s what we are as Indians,” Pathan stated.
On the last few occasions when both teams met in a bilateral series, hardly any of the Aussie cricketers were seen gesticulating at their Indian counterparts. Not even when Australia beat Kohli and Co. in India in both the T20Is and ODIs before IPL 2019.
