Former Australia cricketer Dean Jones has blasted on Michael Clarke’s comments. Earlier, the Australia World Cup-winning captain mentioned that the Aussies avoided sledging Virat Kohli and other Indians to keep their Indian Premier League (IPL) contracts.

Dean Jones revealed how the Australian cricket team avoided upsetting Indian players. he spoke how players like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli like confrontation. Jones shared that confrontation is ‘like oxygen’ for such players and Australia avoided it.

ALSO READ: James Neesham Hopeful of IPL title with KXIP, Announces it on Twitter

“I will tell you the reason why they went quiet on Virat. Because we went quiet when Viv Richards came out to bat. We went quiet on Javed Miandad, on Martin Crowe. And there is a reason behind that — You don’t upset the bear, you don’t upset Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni because this is what they like – a confrontation,” Dean Jones said.

He added, “Don’t give them any oxygen. But I find this reason about not upsetting Virat because of IPL contracts a bit of rubbish. Is Virat going to stop anyone from playing? That is down to the coaches and managers.”

Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine has also rubbished Michael Clarke’s claims. He said that no Australian players thought about his IPL contract when they play against Virat Kohli last year.

“I’m not sure who was going easy on him; we certainly had a thing where we didn’t want to provoke any fight with him because we think that’s when he plays at his best,” Paine told.

Paine mentioned, “Who knows what will happen this series and, as we saw in the documentary, there was still quite a lot of heat in some of those games. I certainly wasn’t holding back, but again the IPL’s not a huge draw for me at the moment, so I had nothing to lose.”

ALSO READ: Mohammed Shami Misses Late Night Dinners and Chats with MS Dhoni

He added, “But anytime our guys go out and play a Test match for Australia, they’ll be giving their absolute all and I’m pretty sure they’re not thinking about an IPL contract when they’re running in, bowling to Virat.”