AUSTRALIA PLAYERS WERE TOO SCARED TO SLEDGE VIRAT KOHLI, SUCKED UP TO INDIA FOR IPL CONTRACTS: MICHAEL CLARKE

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke said the Australian team, like most of the teams in world cricket, sucked up to India to protect their Indian Premier League (IPL) contracts.

Clarke also went on to say that Australia players were scared of even sledging Virat Kohli.

"Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL," Clarke told Big Sports Breakfast.

"I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April.”

"Name a list of 10 players and they are bidding for these Australian players to get into their IPL team. The players were like: 'I'm not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million US for my six weeks'."

"I feel like that's where Australia went through that little phase where our cricket became a little bit softer or not as hard as we're accustomed to seeing."

Clarke's comments come months after several Australian players including Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Aaron Finch sealed big-money contracts with the IPL.