Aussies afraid to sledge Kohli to protect IPL contract, claims Clarke

Clarke said a number of Indian superstars like Kohli and Rohit Sharma were captains of their IPL franchises and thus Australian players did not want to sledge them

Former captain Michael Clarke believes current Australian players are too scared to "sledge" Virat Kohli and in order to protect their million dollars IPL deals, they "sucked up" to the India captain, which resulted in their cricket becoming "soft".

Speaking on Big Sports Breakfast, Clarke said Australian cricket went through a phase when players were too scared to sledge Indian stars as they feared it could jeopardise their contracts in IPL.

"Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL," the 2015 World Cup winning captain said.

"I feel that Australian