Veteran Bangladesh wicketkeeper batter Mushfiqur Rahim hailed India’s batting superstar Virat Kohli, saying he loves the rivalry with him but never sledges him as he gets pumped up after that. Kohli, widely regarded as one of the best batters of the modern era, has been scoring consistently well this year in ODIs and kickstarted the World Cup on high with a couple of half-centuries.
The spotlight will again be on Kohli as India will take on Bangladesh on October 19 at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
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The 34-year-old enjoys an incredible record against Bangladesh and has scored 1097 runs in 19 ODI matches averaging 73.13.
Rahim revealed that he advised the bowlers to get rid of Kohli as early as possible and not to sledge him during a game on the field.
“Some batters in the world love sledging 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,” said Rahim on Star Sports.
“Whenever I play against him, he always tries to sledge me every time I go in to bat because he is a really competitive guy and he doesn’t want to lose any cricket match. I really love that rivalry with him and the challenge that comes with facing him and India,” Rahim added.
India with three wins in three matches are at the second spot on the points table and will eye to strengthen their position for qualifiers with a win against the Bangla Tigers. Whereas, Bangladesh will be looking to bounce back on the winning track after losing back-to-back matches against defending champions England and current table-toppers New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh may have had a faltering start to the World Cup, but they defeated India 2-1 on home soil in a one-day international series last year and enjoyed a six-run success against them during last month’s Asia Cup in Colombo.
“We had success in the recent past against India but it is a different ball game in the World Cup. We are hoping to have a complete performance.” insisted Hathurusingha in the pre-match press conference.
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