WATCH: “Isko main itna maarunga…,” Virat Kohli recalls his battle with Mitchell Johnson during 2014-15 Australia tour

India's 2014-15 tour of Australia remains one of the highlights of Kohli’s illustrious career.

Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson | GettyIndia's 2014-15 tour of Australia remains one of the highlights of Virat Kohli’s illustrious cricketing career. It was a special series for Kohli as he slammed four centuries in as many Test matches and also became India’s captain in the longest format, replacing the legendary MS Dhoni.

During that tour Down Under, Kohli’s on-field rivalry with former Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson also put him in the limelight.

Recently, a video of Kohli discussing the Australia tour emerged on social media. In the clip, the star batter narrated an anecdote from the series in which he took Johnson to the cleaners.

"During the first match of the tour, the very first ball of Johnson hit me on the head. Back then at first, it was complete disbelief. For 60 days I had been visualising that I'd play like this and that, but there was a complete change of plans after that blow. It was a heavy blow and my vision started dropping as my left eye started swelling, but I did not notice it back then," Kohli can be heard saying in the viral video.

"And what happened at lunch was that, these are the things I feel thankful for, there were basically two options, fight or flight. And my reaction was obviously one that went, how dare he hit me on the head?

"Maine kaha isko main itna maarunga iss series main (I said I'll smack him around in the series and that is what I did," he revealed.

Virat Kohli had kicked off the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15 with a century in each innings of the Adelaide Test. While the right-hander failed in the second Test at Gabba, he slammed a ton each in the third and final Test matches at MCG and SCG.

In the four-match series, Kohli amassed a staggering 692 runs at an average of 86.50. He was only behind Australia's Steve Smith's tally of 769 runs during the fiercely-contested series.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 13 Apr, 2024

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