Virat Kohli, the Indian Captain is known for his aggressive captaincy. He always looks out for winning matches and that quality in him is often praised by the cricketing world.

Not to mention, Kohli has not been well greeted by the Australian crowd and some of the current Aussie players have wasted no opportunity to criticize him. For example, in the last Australia test where we witnessed a lot of sledging. But the former Australian captain, Michael Clarke has another opinion.

“I disagree that Virat doesn’t have too many fans in Australia. I think Virat has a lot of Australian spirit in him,” said Clarke, who was in the city to promote Tourism Australia. “To be honest, he plays the game really tough and is really competitive on the field, but he is a nice guy off the field. So when people get to know Virat, they realize that what they see on the field is just his competitive spirit. I can’t think of any Australian cricketer who wasn’t like that every time we walked out on the field. I certainly think there is respect for Virat in Australia.”

“You probably are not going to read the positive stuff (about Virat) in the Australian media though. They all want to write a negative story. But I have a great relationship with him and I think he is respectful,” he added.

He also spoke about the pay dispute going between Cricket Australia and the Australian cricketers’ union.

“It is fantastic that the deal has been done and everybody can focus on cricket. Australia will be traveling to Bangladesh very soon and then we come to India and then the Ashes, so it is wonderful that the game can now move forward. The players can focus on what they do the best – playing – and the administrators can do their job too. I think everybody is sick and tired of talking about it and very happy that it’s over,” Clarke said.

When asked who was right in the dispute, Clarke said, “I don’t need to take sides. There have been compromises from both the parties, but now I am glad the focus is back on cricket.”