Mitchell Johnson on win-at-all-costs culture: “You play any professional sport to win”

Dixit Bhargav | 02/11/2018
Mitchell Johnson on win-at-all-costs culture

Mitchell Johnson on win-at-all-costs culture: The former Australian speedster had admitted to ‘crossing the line’ on the field.

Former Australia speedster Mitchell Johnson has admitted to ‘crossing the line’ on the cricket field during his playing days in a bid to win. With the ball in hand, chiefly in the second half of his career, Johnson was nothing but a brute force across formats.

Johnson, who turns 37 today, registered 590 scalps across formats at the highest level. In his decade-long career, he had scored one century and 13 half-centuries across formats. Thus, contributing with the bat as well.

However, in a recent interview with Fox Sports News, Johnson admitted to his team believing in the win-at-all-costs approach. On being asked about the same, Johnson was quoted, “I did … I think we play the game to win. I think you play any professional sport to win. You’re out there trying to compete as hard as you can. You’re doing it as fair as possible but sometimes, yeah you do cross the line and I can put my hand up and say I have.”

Johnson was of the opinion that when you are being too aggressive, you don’t mean that to do those things but the tasting victory is what pushes you to do it.  “I’ve maybe been too aggressive and too in someone’s face. I’ve been suspended before and been warned.

“You don’t mean to do those things. It’s just you’re out there to win, plain and simple. You’re trying to win for your team,” he said.

Supporting former Australian captain Allan Border regarding playing at the highest level is all about getting results, Johnson agreed to the fact that the manner of winning is very important but not more than just winnings.

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Australian cricket below:

 

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Australia Mitchell Johnson

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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