Virat Kohli didn’t have a great time in the middle during the first innings of the opening Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Against the new ball, when India lost two early wickets, the former captain of the Blue Brigade arrived early into the middle.
Virat Kohli looked charged up after being involved in his very first red-ball game nearly nine months after playing his last against South Africa at the Newlands in the first week of the year. But, the same story continued with him. Hasan Mahmud bowled one just around the fourth stump line and Kohli went fishing for it.
The Delhi-born was one of the players to fail among the top order of the Indian side, but because of the partnership of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja of 199 runs for the seventh wicket, they managed to get to 376 in the first innings. From being at 144/6 at one stage, that was a commendable contribution from the lower order.
Mushfiqur Rahim sledged Virat Kohli? Tamim Iqbal confirms
On the second day, Bangladesh found themselves in real trouble at 22/3 when their veteran wicket-keeper batter, Mushfiqur Rahim, walked into the middle. He couldn’t do much before edging to Jasprit Bumrah as the slip fielder, KL Rahul, grabbed a comfortable catch.
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However, the former Bangladesh opening batter and the captain of the side, Tamim Iqbal, who was on commentary during that period, felt that it would be a matter of time before Virat Kohli and Rahim would be engaged in a sledding incident between themselves during the Chennai Test.
The wicket-keeper and the 35-year-old have a history of these things, as the left-handed opener confirmed. He wanted to hype the rivalry when the former head coach of the Blue Brigade, Ravi Shastri, intervened. Rahim has his instances of these things.
During their game against India in the 2016 T20 World Cup at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Rahim nailed two boundaries to Hardik Pandya and celebrated a bit too early before they could carry themselves over the line in the game. On the very next ball, Shikhar Dhawan grabbed his catch, and the MS Dhoni-led side went on to win the game with one run.
Tamin expected a similar situation between Virat Kohli and Rahim as he started the conversation with, “Mushfiqur Rahim is batting, Virat Kohli is in the slips. Watch out now. Keep an eye on them. They have quite the history.”
“What history,” Shastri remarked, when the opening batter decided to go with a full-face batting defensive shot, “Oh, you know, Ravi. You know what history I am talking about.”
The renowned commentator, Harsha Bhogle, cheekily chipped in and commented, “Ah, well left Tamim. I guess Mushfiqur has a bit of history with everyone.”
Both India and Bangladesh have been part of many sledding incidents in the past, but Kohli and Rahim don’t carry such a story. Last year, during the ODI World Cup game between these two countries in Pune, Rahim reflected on how Virat Kohli would look to sledge the players to be in the game.
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“Some batters in the world love sledding and get pumped up by that. So I never sledge him because he gets pumped up by that. I always tell my bowlers to get rid of him as early as possible.” The wicket-keeper batter told Star Sports.
“Whenever I play against him, he always tries to sled me every time I go in to bat because he is a competitive guy, and he doesn’t want to lose any cricket match. I love that rivalry with him and the challenge that comes with facing him and India.” He elaborated.
