Johnson, however, has denied to have ever given the interview to the daily. "Interesting article @TOISportsNews given I’m not in Melbourne & never sat down for a Q&A with this journalist," the former Australia pace spearhead tweeted.
Former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson on Monday denied having talked to The Times of India and praising India speedster Jasprit Bumrah in the interview.
The daily carried an interview with Johnson in a question and answer format on December 22.
"He has a unique action, but is very consistent with his line and length. He hardly bowls a loose delivery, which means he is hard to score off and any batsman will think twice before taking him on," Johnson is understood to have told the TOI.
The interview was also published by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on their official website.
Johnson, however, has denied to have ever given the interview to the daily. "Interesting article @TOISportsNews given I’m not in Melbourne & never sat down for a Q&A with this journalist," the former Australia pace spearhead tweeted.
Interesting article given I’m not in Melbourne & never sat down for a Q&A with this journalist https://t.co/BUNn1klcoc
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398)“Where has this come from? I don’t recall this. Who wrote this? I do agree with parts of it but I never sat down with anyone from memory,” Johnson tweeted to ICC.
Where has this come from? I don’t recall this. Who wrote this? I do agree with parts of it but I never sat down with anyone from memory https://t.co/mlqSWdFuFS
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398)The ICC subsequently tweeted to Johnson offering assistance if the pacer sought to issue a clarification and took the article off their website.
Good evening Mitch. Given your Twitter comments, we are going to unpublish the article that features quotes that have been attributed to you. Please get in touch via DM if you'd like to issue a clarification https://t.co/FPF6hyjNFn
— ICC (@ICC)On Monday, the TOI issued a clarification, admitting that Johnson's interview wasn't a typical sit-down interaction but was "conducted over several short sessions interspersed with Johnson's commentary stints".
The daily stood by the interview, while calling Johnson's memory "faint", and also pointed out to Johnson's tweet where the pace bowler agreed to the parts of the interview.
The TOI also supported their claim by posting a picture of the correspondent along with Johnson that was taken during the Perth Test.
TOI stands by its interview with which was carried on December 23, 2018. Read our statement below. pic.twitter.com/YVLicywIfS
— TOI Sports (@toisports)The 37-year-old former Australia pacer reiterated that he was not in Melbourne to give the interview, replying to a few others on Twitter. He also said that he did speak to many journalists but had never agreed to go on record. Johnson mentioned that if one of the journalists he was casually speaking to reported a chat, he would obviously raise an issue of privacy.
Johnson was also accused by a Twitter user of targeting Indian players. The Aussie replied that he got along well with the Indian players and also reminded the user of the plenty of 'abusive’ tweets he received from a lot of Indians for what he wrote regarding India captain Virat Kohli's behaviour after the conclusion of the second Test against Australia at Perth.
I agree he’s got a bright future, I’ve always said that on Bumrah. I get on fine with the Indian players, I have talked them up plenty over the last 2 tests. I’m irritating Indians? I’m receiving plenty of abusive tweets over my column I did on Kohli. Show me my loathing tweets?
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398)Compiling Johnson's comments at different times and passing it off as an interview is not fair journalistic practice, especially if no permission had been taken from the player in question to reproduce his comments. While Johnson may indeed have spoken the words that he had, he may not have given the green signal to publish them as part of the interview. It also puts to question the credibility of the so-called interview, which may not be anything more than a series of casual chat over a period of time. It indeed puts into question the credibility of the Times of India as well.
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