When Mitchell Johnson And Kevin Pietersen Almost Came to Blows Ahead of Ashes Test
Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen's battles headlined several Ashes series in the past and the duo represented all that defines an high-voltage England-Australia Test series.
- NDTV Sports
- Updated: October 28, 2016 03:16 pm IST
Highlights
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Mitchell Johnson has released his autobiography, Resilient
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Johnsons book is full of explosive anecdotes
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Johnson and Kevin Pietersen never had a good relationship
Mitchell Johnson on Tuesday revealed a rather interesting Ashes story involving Kevin Pietersen as part of his newly launched autobiography 'Resilient'.
Johnson and Pietersen's battles headlined several Ashes series in the past and the duo represented all that defines an high-voltage England-Australia Test series.
The incident narrated by the former Aussie pacer in his book however came as surprise, since the media completely missed it at the time.
According to Johnson, he nearly punched the maverick England batsman as the two teams warmed up before a Test in England in 2009.
Pietersen played a few pull shots in the directions of the Aussie team. According to Johnson, any player could have unknowingly stepped on a ball and injured himself in the process.
Anticipating potential damage, Johnson requested KP to stop playing the shots in his team's direction. Typically, the South Africa-born batsman was in no mood to relent.
That's when the left-arm pacer lost his cool and headed in Pietersen's direction.
"When he hit another one towards me I kicked it as far as I could in the other direction. Words were exchanged and KP [Pietersen] crossed the line in what he said.
"He got really personal and I'm not going to dignify his comments by repeating them. The red mist descended and I stormed in his direction with every intention in the world of hitting him," Johnson wrote.
Thankfully, Johnson's bowling partner Stuart Clark spotted him and played mediator between two before something drastic could happen.
"Stu Clark saw it all happen and came rushing over just as we came together and jumped between us. KP is a big guy but I was very worked up.
"Fortunately, Stu is bigger than both of us because it took a bit to convince me not to go through with what I planned. I can tell you that this wouldn't have been a minor scuffle," he further added.
While the two had several chats post that incident, Johnson claims they never became friends. This was mainly because Pietersen had crossed the line and his words stayed with Johnson even after that unfortunate incident.