Clarke heaps praise on classy Johnson

Virat Kohli may have left the Indian fans disappointed with a painful 13-ball-1 but Michael Clarke had special praise for the star batsman.

“No, I didn't feel that at all,” said Michael Clarke when asked if he thought Australia had won it following Kohli’s dismissal. “I think India have got more than one really good player so we didn't feel like that. He's obviously a big player, extremely successful one-day record. There's no doubt about it. His record is phenomenal, and it takes a big player to get him out, and Mitchell Johnson stood up and did that for us tonight. I think Virat is a class player. I think he's shown that throughout the summer, shown it throughout his career. Yeah, I wouldn't be writing Virat Kohli off, that's for sure. He's got a lot of cricket left in him, a lot of runs left in him. It's just tonight Johnson executed his skill very well and the ball didn't hit the middle of Virat's bat, which is a nice thing sometimes,” he remarked.

Johnson threw the Indian chase completely off the gear when he dismissed Kohli and Rohit Sharma in quick succession and Clarke obviously was impressed with his paceman. “Two crucial wickets, two big prize wickets, aren't they,” Clarke began. “I've always said Mitchell making runs gives him confidence with the ball. I think tonight was a good example of that. Mitch is Mitch. He's a class performer, consistently. He probably hasn't had, you know, the standout tournament that everybody expects of him all the time but I think he's done a fantastic job for this team throughout this tournament. Two crucial wickets, like I said, and I couldn't be prouder of our bowling unit in general. I think every single one of them, once again, under pressure, stood up.”