Australian players sucked up to Kohli to protect IPL deals: Michael Clarke

Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke has dropped a bombshell, revealing that the players in the Australian side sucked up to India captain Virat Kohli in order to protect their deals.

He also went on to say that the players in the Australian lineup refrained from sledging the Indian skipper as they were looking to cement lucrative deals in India.

"Everybody knows how powerful India is in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL," Fox Sports quoted Clarke as saying on the Big Sports Breakfast radio programme.

"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," he added.

Clarke also went on to say that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are skippers of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians and the duo have a role in selecting the players for their side.

"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 USD 1 million US for my six weeks," Clarke said.

Kohli has been in involved in fiery battles against the Australian lineup.

During 2018 India's tour to Australia, Kohli and Australia skipper Tim Paine were seen exchanging words on the pitch during the second Test at Perth.

India and Australia are slated to play a four-match Test series later this year.