Michael Clarke has said he believes the Australian team “sucked up” to Virat Kohli-led India during the Test series Down Under last year in...
Michael Clarke has said he believes the Australian team “sucked up” to Virat Kohli-led India during the Test series Down Under last year in order to secure high-paying Indian Premier League contracts.
Talking to Big Sports Breakfast, the former Aussie captain said that Tim Paine and his men were “too scared” to sledge the Indian players.
“Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL,” said Clarke. “I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April.”
India had defeated Australia 2-1 in the 2018-19 four-Test series, with the hosts competing without their key players Steve Smith and David Warner.
Clarke added: “Name a list of ten players and they are bidding for these Australian players to get into their IPL team. The players were like: ‘I’m not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million US for my six weeks’. I feel like that’s where Australia went through that little...
