Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson has revealed that he won't hold back in their Boxing Day Test against India, declaring that his baiting of rival batsmen would remain as a part of his game.
Australian stand-in Test team skipper Steve Smith believes that Johnson's explosive three-wicket spell early on last Saturday's fourth day of the second Test against India at the Gabba cracked the game open.
And Johnson would be looking to cause cracks in India's batting resistance again on Boxing Day, both with the ball and with his verbal approach in the game, News.com.au reported.
The foundation for another fiery clash in the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground has reportedly been laid, thanks to Johnson's alarming pace and bounce, coupled with the growing tension over India's lack of confidence in the standard of umpiring in the four-Test series.
Johnson said in a new DVD called 'Mitchell Johnson: Bouncing Back' that sometimes they say stupid things when they are out there, adding that sometimes they try and say things that hopefully get into the batsmen's heads a little bit.
The paceman claimed that they try to get the batsman to think about their feet, or just let them know that they are going to bowl another short ball, adding that it's all mind games.
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Johnson admitted that it might look as if they are going a bit too hard at each other, and sometimes it could be a bit over the top, adding that if one can get into someone's mind by speaking to a batsman and telling them that their feet aren't going anywhere, hopefully the batsman would start to think about it.
He added that the bowler then bowls a short one at the batsman, and they are in their head.
Johnson claimed that he loves that part of the game, and added that he doesn't think it's ever going to stop.