Virat Kohli Used To Sledge Even More During His U-19 Days, Reveals Rubel Hossain

Virat Kohli and Bangladesh fast bowler Rubel Hossain have had their fair share of verbal tussles on a cricket field in the past decade.

It all started with the opening game of the 2011 World Cup between India and Bangladesh when Virat Kohli sledged Hossain by dishing out the choicest of words during the innings.

Kohli went on to stroke a brilliant hundred as India kicked off their eventual triumphant campaign with a commanding win over Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Four years later, Rubel pulled one back when he not only sledged Kohli but also proceeded to dismiss the then Indian vice-captain.

Rubel and Virat have been playing against each other since their U-19 days. Rubel was the part of the Bangladesh Colts in the 2008 U-19 ICC World Cup; a tournament that Virat Kohli-led Team India went on to win.

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Rubel Hossain spills beans on how Virat Kohli used to sledge during his U-19 days

In a recent Facebook Live session with fellow teammate Tamim Iqbal, Rubel Hossain revealed that Virat Kohli used to sledge and get under the skin of the opposition, even more during his U-19 days.

“We (Rubel and Kohli) have played in the Under-19 World Cup together. Since then there has been a little conflict. He used to do a lot of sledging then. Maybe a little less in the national team, but at that time there was a lot of sledging,” Rubel Hossain told Tamim Iqbal, as quoted by Bdricitime.

He added: “There was a match in South Africa, in a tri-national tournament. He was sledging profusely, abusing the batsman who was coming down. We all know how he was abusive,”

Kohli, since his initial days, have matured brilliantly by channelising his aggression into positive energy and has gone from strength-to-strength to become one of the greatest batsman this beautiful game has ever seen. The Indian captain is the only batsmen of the current era to score more than 10000 runs in One-day International cricket. He is currently in the third place as far as most centuries [70] in the history of the game is concerned.

Rubel Hossain, on the other hand, hasn’t quite lived to his potential. In 155 International games across formats, the fast bowler has claimed a total of 190 wickets.

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