Earlier, Clark had claimed that Australia, as well as cricketers from other countries, were scared of sledging Virat Kohli and other Indian players due to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Australian pacer Pat Cummins has hit back at the former captain Michael Clarke's comments over Aussie players 'sucking up' to Team India skipper Virat Kohli during their 2018-19 tour.
Cummins claimed that that the kangaroos decided to play 'less aggressively' after the ball-tampering scandal that dented the reputation of cricket in the country.
"I think probably a bigger factor was six months before leading into that Indian series the media and everyone commentating on the Aussie cricket team were pretty clear in their direction in the way they wanted the Aussies team to go and that was playing a little bit less aggressively out on the field," Cummins told BBC.
"I'd say that would have been a bigger factor than trying to win or lose friends out on the cricket field."
"But you never know, that might have been a factor for some players," he added.
Earlier, Clark had claimed that Australia, as well as cricketers from other countries, were scared of sledging Virat Kohli and other Indian players due to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"I'm not sure who was going easy on him; we certainly had a thing where we didn't want to provoke any fight with him because we think that's when he plays at his best," Paine told Big Sports Breakfast.
"But anytime our guys go out and play a Test match for Australia, they'll be giving their absolute all and I'm pretty sure they're not thinking about an IPL contract when they're running in, bowling to Virat," he added.
The former batter also stated how players are now more focused on playing in the IPL and securing a fat contract from one of the franchisees and thus they do not want to sledge someone like Kohli, which may hamper their reputation and decrease their chances.
“The players were like: “I’m not going to sledge Kohli, I want him to pick me for Bangalore so I can make my $1 million US for my six weeks. I feel like that’s where Australia went through that little phase where our cricket become a little bit softer or not as hard as we’re accustomed to seeing,” the former Aussie skipper added.
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