No reason to respect Mitchell Johnson: Virat Kohli

Melbourne Never the one to shy away from an onfield showdown feisty Indian batsman Virat Kohli said being called a ldquospoilt bratrdquo by the Australians brought the best out of him as he smashed a careerbest 169run knock to keep the touring side afloat in the ongoing third cricket Test here yesterdayVirat Kohli falls to the ground after being hit by a throw at the stumps from Mitchell Johnson on Day Three of the third Test at the MCG yesterday PicGetty ImagesldquoIt was going on throughout the day They were calling me a spoilt brat and I said lsquomaybe thatrsquos the way I am You guys hate me and I like thatrsquo I donrsquot mind having a chat on the field and it worked in my favour I guessrdquo a combative Kohli said at the end of third dayrsquos play which India finished at 4628 still trailing by 68 runsClass Apart Virat Kohli en route his 169 against Australia on Day Three of the third Test in Melbourne yesterdayldquoI like playing against Australia because it is very hard for them to stay calm and I donrsquot mind an argument on the field and it really excites me and brings the best out of me So they donrsquot seem to be learning the lessonrdquo said KohliThe most dramatic moments of the day involved Kohli in a verbal spat with Mitchell Johnson after the pacer ended up hitting the Indian while attempting to run him outTalking about Johnson Kohli said ldquoIn Brisbane he was batting without pressure because thatrsquos not his job His job is to take wickets and he was going at 47 an over today and he didnrsquot get a wicket throughout the day and I backed myself to take him on even if I keep talking to him I decided whenever he comes on to bowl I will back myself and take him on I donrsquot mind having a word back neither does he so we kept going at itrdquoOz have the right to talkKohli and Ajinkya Rahane put on 262 runs for the fourth wicket in reply to Australiarsquos first innings total of 530 runs ldquoThey have the right to talk They are 20 up right now It would have been interesting if it had been 11 and the same sort of sentences or words had come through from them When you are on top you can sort of say anything you wantldquoItrsquos when chips are down that you have got to stand up When we played in India in 201213 there werenrsquot so many words coming back from them We are 20 down we still took them on today and showed what we can do with the bat which is the character of this Indian teamrdquo said a defiant Kohli When asked if he respected the Australian team Kohli replied ldquoI have got a nice friendship with a few of them I respect quite a few of them but someone who doesnrsquot respect me I have no reason to respect himldquoThere were words in Adelaide as well where they said no unnecessary respect for him I said I donrsquot need it I am out here to play cricket not to earn anyonersquos respect As long as I am scoring runs I am happy with itrdquoKohli said he relishes the challenge of playing against Australia and was delighted with the way the third day turned out for his sideWhy change the gameldquoI am very proud of the way we played today and we backed ourselves throughout Before coming here I told myself I am going to be positive There is no reason why I should change my game from ODI cricket to Test cricket because sometimes we end up thinking too much and forget about playing our natural gamerdquo said KohliKohli and Rahane came together at the crease when India were 1473 in the morning session and then werenrsquot separated until after tea They became the first pair to post 200plus for the fourth wicket at this ground Rahane scored 147 runs while Kohli scored his fourth Test hundred in Australia and third of this series ldquoI was criticised for not getting big hundreds It is disappointing to get out on 115 or 120 after having done all the hard work so those are the times when I told myself to take more time Itrsquos all about correcting your mistakes Next time I will want to convert it into a double hundredrdquo Kohli signed off3 Number of centuries Virat Kohli has scored in the series against Australia so far He became only the second Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar to achieve the feat