*NEW DELHI – Indian captain Virat Kohli faced stiff criticism both DownUnder and at home on Wednesday after his side’s crushing loss to Australiain the second Test.*
Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson called Kohli “disrespectful” and“silly” over his heated exchanges with fellow skipper Tim Paine during thePerth Test.
Former India great Sunil Gavaskar meanwhile hit out at “selection blunders”and the Indian Express daily slammed Kohli’s “explicit lack of confidence”in some of his players.
Kohli and Paine exchanged barbs, at one point prompting intervention fromthe umpire, during the game that Australia won by 146 runs on Tuesday tolevel the four-match series 1-1.
It was reported that Kohli belittled Paine as just “a stand-in captain” — aclaim angrily denied by India’s team management.
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The retired Johnson said the famously combative Kohli’s antics wereunnecessary.
“At the end of the match, you should be able to look each other in theeyes, shake hands and say ‘great contest’,” he wrote in a column for FoxSports.
“Virat Kohli could not do that with Tim Paine, shaking the Australiancaptain’s hand but barely making eye contact with him. To me, that isdisrespectful.
