‘Itna Marunga Na’ – Virat Kohli Recalls How He Threatened Mitchell Johnson on the Australia Tour
Virat Kohli recalled his intense rivalry with Australia’s Mitchell Johnson.
During the whirlwind of the ongoing IPL 2024, Virat Kohli, recalled a gripping chapter from India’s 2014-2015 Australian tour, highlighting his intense rivalry with Mitchell Johnson.
Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson were both legends in their own right. Kohli’s aggression with the bat matched Johnson’s fiery bowling style, and neither backed down when facing off.
Their rivalry hit its peak during India’s 2014–2015 series in Australia, as Mitchell Johnson unleashed a relentless onslaught of bouncers and yorkers against Kohli and the Indian batting lineup.
Meanwhile, reflecting on the rivalry, the former Indian captain remembered a particular incident from their 2014–15 tour when he contemplated giving Johnson a taste of his own medicine after enduring a barrage of bouncers.
Here’s what Virat Kohli said during an event:
“First ball of the tour, and he hit me on the head. And at that time, at first it was disbelief. Literally for 60 days, I have been visualising that I will play like this, I will play like this. It was like a complete change of plans. The first ball hit my head and it was a heavy blow.”
Virat Kohli later revealed how he experienced vision impairment while batting after Mitchell Johnson struck him near the eyes. Following this, during lunch, Kohli devised a plan to aggressively counter Johnson, which he successfully executed with the bat.
“My vision started dropping on the left eye, and it got swollen, I didn’t know. So, two balls were left for lunch, so I played. So, what happened at lunch? And again, these are the things that I feel grateful for. Now I can’t say that I thought at lunch that I would do this. There were two options, fight or flight.”
“So, naturally, my reaction at lunch was how he hit me on the head. Yeah. How did he hit me on the head? I was like, how is this possible? I thought I would hit him this much in this series. Is series me Isko mein itna maarunga naa, and that’s exactly what I did.”
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