Australian media has been disgraceful to Kohli: Michael Clarke

There has been a lot said about Virat Kohli recently by the Australian media. They have always tried to get under the skin of the Indian skipper and even this time, they’ve managed to spark controversy. An Australian journalist recently captioned a picture of Kohli cleaning a stand at the Eden Gardens stadium as “Sweepers clean the stadium in readiness for the World XI match”

But in former Australian skipper, Michael Clarke’s opinion these things won’t matter to Kohli and all it would do is make him stronger for the upcoming battle. He thinks they are feeding just what the 28-year-old needs going into a tough series like this one.

Won’t care whatsoever

“Virat won’t care whatsoever, if anything this will inspire him to want to beat Australia even more. This stuff is what Virat Kohli loves. He loves it when a player sledges him or somebody in the media fires him up. It gives him another reason to come out and perform.” he was quoted as saying by India Today.

Clarke further stated that rather than engaging in the war of words off the field, Kohli will answer all this on the field and the Australian team should be wary of him. “If I was the Australian team, I wouldn’t be happy at this stage. His fans are obviously going to come out and support him. There was probably no need for it at all,” he added.

The Australian World Cup winning captain also went on to say that criticism by the media and opposition should be taken as a compliment and that is how he himself dealt with it.

“I think you should take it as a compliment. It’s no different to how you walk out in the field against England and get booed. I used to take that as a compliment. I used to think there’s a reason they don’t like you because you are performing against them,” Clarke said.

However, he admitted that Australian media had been too harsh on the Indian skipper. “I’ve said this openly that Australian media at times has been disgraceful in regards to the way they have treated Virat Kohli,” he concluded.