India’s star batter Virat Kohli took a trip down memory lane and looked back at his first interaction with legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian dressing room. Though Kohli has shared the incident a few times before, it still makes for a fun listen.
Kohli shared how during India’s home ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2008, his senior teammates Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Munaf Patel instructed him to bow down to Tendulkar when they first met. The former, taking the prank seriously, did as told, only to find Tendulkar taken aback.
“First time I met him, main pairon mein gir gaya unke (I fell on his feet). Maine kaha karna padhta hoga (I thought this might be the norm. Wo pichhe hat rahe hai, ki kya kar rahe ho tum (He moved back stunned, asking what I was doing. Main unko bhi nahi bol paa raha ki paaji mujhe bola thha karna padhta hai yaha pe (I couldn’t tell him either that I was told this is the norm),” Kohli said at an event.
“He gave all these guys a little bit. Irfan (Pathan) bhai was there, Bhajju pa (Harbhajan Singh) was there, Yuvi pa (Yuvraj Singh) of course and Munaf Patel. He used to be the one cheering from behind in his unique voice. Unhone sabne mereko fasaya (All of them pranked me),” Kohli added.
Kohli would make his India debut in the same series against Sri Lanka and would soon also get the privilege of batting alongside Tendulkar on the field.
