‘During U19 days, he used to abuse even more’- Rubel Hossain opens up on his sledging history with Virat Kohli

Rubel Hossain, the veteran Bangladesh fast bowler, has recently talked about his on-field heated moments with Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper. The speedster put forth his opinions during a Facebook Live with Tamim Iqbal where fellow pacer Taskin Ahmed was also present. Back in the 2011 World Cup, Virat verbally abused Rubel after the latter threatened to throw the ball towards him.

Then in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rubel gave Virat a fiery send-off after dismissing him for three. The incident didn’t evade Tamim’s eyes and he asked the seamer about his fights with the Delhi-born Kohli.

“Rubel, I can see there’s always some kind of a fight between you and Kohli. For example, you give him stares, and jump all around after getting him out. If you can tell in details the history behind this,” Tamim was quoted as saying.

I had an ugly fallout with him: Rubel Hossain

Replying to Tamim’s queries, the 30-year-old Rubel said that his erratic relationship with Kohli dates back to their U19 days. The Khulna-born narrated an incident from a tri-nation series in South Africa where both of them broke into a war of words before umpires brought back normalcy.

“My brawl with Virat is from our U19 days itself. In those days, he used to sledge even more, though it has come down in international cricket. During a tri-nation series in South Africa, he abused every other Bangladesh batsmen,” Rubel mentioned.

“We all know about how he used to hurl expletives back then. There, I had an ugly fallout with him and abused him after he got out. Virat flipped his bat around and gave it back to me, charging towards me. The umpires had to intervene and got things back under control,” he added.

At the national level, Rubel has gotten rid of Virat a couple of times in nine matches. But Kohli has an average of 69.50 while facing the Bangladesh fast bowler. At the present point in time, Virat is the bedrock of India’s batting across three formats. Rubel, on the other hand, has had a tough time, holding on to his place, though he has 190 wickets at the highest level.