Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson engaged in many verbal duels during India's Test series vs Australia.
© AP
India and Australia have played out four Test matches and two one-day internationals, over the last four months - most of those contests have been acrimonious and involved plenty of sledging, fines and bad blood. As the two sides get ready to clash in the second semifinal of cricket World Cup 2015, Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson has made it clear that he is not keeping mum.(Can Australia Walk the Walk?)
After explosive opener David Warner said he would behave himself and abstain from verbals, Johnson was prompt to "put his hand up" and insisted he would take the lead in the verbal duels.(Complete World Cup coverage� |� Stats)
Both Warner and Johnson were singled out by Indian cricketers during the Test series and there were heated words exchanged by both sides. Warner was in fact even cautioned by Cricket Australia over his "speak English" jibe at Rohit Sharma during the triangular series.(Maxwell Wants SCG to be Green and Mean)
"I heard Davy said he wasn't going to get involved in all that stuff," Johnson told Fox TV on Tuesday. "Someone's got to do it and I might put my hand up. It's part of the game and what happened the other day with Shane (Watson) and Wahab (Riaz) was exceptional. I thought it was great entertainment and I think you're going to see more entertainment in this game."(India Are no Pushovers: Finch)
Watson and Wahab were fined 50 per cent of their match fees after their mid-pitch altercation during the quarterfinal at the Adelaide Oval. The Australians obviously had the last laugh, winning the encounter but the International Cricket Council was clearly not impressed. To the credit of both men involved, however, they made up after the game and hailed each other's performances on Twitter.(A History of Over-Heated Battles)
But the relationship between the Indian and Australian cricketers has been a lot more sour. The likes of Johnson, Warner, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma were fined and reprimanded by the ICC in the course of the four Test matches.(Top 5 Reasons Why India Can 'Stun' Aussies in Their Own Backyard)
While the Indian team has so far kept a low-profile, the likes of Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner and Steve Smith have started the mind-games with constant reminders of their domination over the tourists in recent times.(Is India vs Australia Semi-Final a 50-50 Bet?)
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