TOI published the article on December 23, in which they claimed to have interviewed Johnson during the ongoing Test series between Australia and India.
Following an article published by the Times of India which included the Aussie legend Mitchell Johnson's interview, a massive controversy has erupted as the former cricketer totally denied having any such conversation.
TOI published the article on December 23, in which they claimed to have interviewed Johnson during the ongoing Test series between Australia and India.
However, hours after its publication and ICC's reposting it, the Aussie issued a statement through Twitter, wherein he completely denied sitting down for any such interview.
The news daily took to Twitter and denied Johnson's charges and even posted a picture of the interviewer and Johnson to back their claim.
To this, the former Aussie fast bowler replied by putting forward a set of facts for the news organisation and even accused the writer of the article of listening into his conversation with other journalists and picking up excerpts to write an article. The following points were being put across by the cricketer-turned-commentator.
1. A selfie is not proof an interview took place. I have taken thousands of selfies with fans over the years.
2. There are plenty of articles I have read that I agree with parts of them however this does not mean I had anything to do with them.
3. The format of the so called interview is Q&A and by your own admission this did not take place.
4. When you say this interview was based on parts of a conversation that was spread out over the Test match, Which parts? Does that mean the rest is just made up to suit you?
5. For the record now you have refreshed my "faint memory" I do recall this man lurking around during the Test match (in Perth) trying to listen in on conversations I was having with other journalists. So I can only assume his so called Q & A was loosely based on parts of conversation he partially overheard me have with other people.
In response to your statement see the following: pic.twitter.com/9oQsTEp5aH
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398)The interviewer Sumit Mukherjee further replied to the points raised by Johnson, from TOI's twitter handle. Here's what the Tweet contained.
TOI responds to points raised by pic.twitter.com/D0fy37eJcg
— TOI Sports (@toisports)Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.