Not sure who went easy on Virat Kohli for IPL contract: Tim Paine rubbishes Michael Clarke's claims of Aussies being 'scared' to sledge India

Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has rubbished Michael Clarke’s claims that Aussie players were too scared to sledge Virat Kohli or other Indian players as they feared losing out on hefty pay-cheques in Indian Premier League (IPL). Paine has said that he didn’t notice too many people being that nice to Kohli or not trying to get him dismissed.

Paine further said that in the previous Test series between India and Australia, there was a quite a lot of heat and every Australian player tried to give their best with both bat and ball while adding that he is pretty sure that nobody would be thinking of an IPL contract when they are running in to bowl to Kohli.

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"I certainly didn't notice too many people being that nice to Virat or not trying to get him out or anything like that," Paine told a leading cricket portal while adding: "I thought everyone who had the ball in their hand or when we were batting were trying their absolute best to win the game for Australia. 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.”

"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. 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," Paine further said.

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Earlier, Clarke had said that India are extremely powerful in regards to the financial part of the game and that has led to Australian cricket and other teams to suck up to Indian cricket team.

"Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, whether that be internationally or domestically in regards to the IPL," Clarke said on the Big Sports Breakfast radio programme, while adding "so, I feel, Australian cricket, and probably every other team, over a little period went the opposite - actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or sledge the Indian players because they had to go and play with them in April.”