Mitchell Johnson continues to target Virat Kohli even after retirement; trolls Indian fans

Mitchell Johnson shares a love to hate relationship with Virat Kohli. Things have never been good between them ever since the left-arm pacer welcomed Kohli with a lethal bouncer at the Adelaide Test of 2014, which was played shortly after the demise of Phil Hughes.

The rivalry began from that series. Johnson did not miss an opportunity to sledge Kohli while the Indian batsman tried his level best to get under Johnson’s skin. While, Australia won the series, Kohli had a great run with the bat. In one of the press conferences, Kohli criticised Johnson’s tactics of hitting him with the ball in an attempted run out. Also Read: ICC World T20 2016, Super 10, Pick of the tweets: India vs Australia at Mohali

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He had said, “I was really annoyed with him hitting me with the ball, and I told him that’s not on. ‘Try and hit the stumps next time, not my body.’ You have got to send the right message across. I am not there to take to some unnecessary words or chats from someone. I am going there to play cricket, back myself. There’s no good reason that I should respect unnecessarily some people when they are not respecting me.”

However, Johnson had the last laugh when later in that season he dismissed Kohli cheaply in the ICC World Cup 2015 semi-final at Sydney. Even after the Australian pacers retirement, he tried to take a pot shot at Kohli ahead of India’s virtual quarter-final game against Australia in ICC World T20 2016.

Johnson list of best batsmen in current cricket missed the names, Kohli and Hashim Amla.

Top 5 batters Dhoni , AB, Smith, Root & Williamson

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) March 26, 2016

When one of the Kohli fans tried to remind him of the Indian batsman and Amla, he replied:

@MitchJohnson398 boss Kohli? Amla? — #EmpowerPakistan (@HaqparastPak) March 26, 2016

@HaqparastPak how could I forget Amla #class

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) March 26, 2016

Taking a further dig at Kohli, he reminded followers of the World Cup 2015 semi-final clash.

Sticks & Stones…….. They are only words people! We all have different thoughts and may not agree on everything. Smile — Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) March 26, 2016

@sarcasumit no I only remember the wickets

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) March 26, 2016

Johnson may view things differently but one thing has to be taken into consideration is that Kohli has a fantastic record against Australia in all formats and is certainly among the best in the world.