Virat Kohli is frustrated because he hasn’t scored runs, says Mitchell Johnson

Former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson, on Sunday, stated that India skipper Virat Kohli is “frustrated” with his poor run with the bat in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. The 35-year old also said that Kohli was living dangerously with his send-offs every time India pick up a wicket.

Speaking about the ill-tempered Bengaluru Test, which India won by 75 runs, Johnson said that Kohli’s failures with the bat in the series is getting to him, “He’s obviously quite passionate, but I just think he’s frustrated because he hasn’t scored runs and he’s letting his emotions get the better of him” Johnson wrote in his blog on foxsports.com.

About the game, he said that he could sense momentum shifting India’s way after the Aussies were on top for the first two days, “You could sense the vibe change halfway through the match and it coincided with India getting ahead in the game,” Johnson said.

Johnson warned the 28-year-old about his “fired up” celebrations, “Obviously whenever there’s a wicket the cameras go straight to Kohli to see his reaction - they know they’re going to get those kind of reactions from him”

“And they did! He was giving a send-off to just about every player, which you’ve got to be very careful with. It can happen sometimes, when you’re pumped up and you get a bit too fired up,” Johnson added.

Blast from the past

Johnson also reminisced about his duels with Kohli in the past. Last year, the left-armer took a dig on Twitter about “going missing” in the World Cup semi-final in 2015, “To be honest, I think it was every time we played. He hasn’t had any time for me since the Boxing Day Test in 2014, when he finished the day saying he had no respect for me”

“The moment that changed everything was when he blocked a ball back to me and I threw it back at the stumps, seeing Virat was out of his crease and thinking it was a chance of a run out. The only problem was that Virat was in the way.

“He got hit in the back and I apologised straight away because it was a complete accident, but that message didn’t seem to get through. There were plenty of verbals after that and he hasn’t really stopped since,” Johnson wrote.