India faced off against New Zealand and Bangladesh during the practice matches ahead of the kickoff to 2019 ODI World Cup in England.
Bangladesh locked horns with India in the practice game held at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The match is remembered for KL Rahul and MS Dhoni’s respective tons, which propelled India’s score to 359.
Bangladesh all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who was still finding his feet in international cricket, remained in awe of watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma bat.
“During our practice match at Cardiff, Rohit Sharma was at the striker’s end with Virat Kohli as the non-striker. I told Rohit, ‘it’s been 10 to 12 years since I’ve been watching you guys on TV, both of you are our dream cricketers. Now I’m bowling to you and I don’t know what to do,'” Saifuddin told BDCrictime.
“Then Rohit laughed at me and said ‘Good luck’. Then I was trying my best to make sure that I got at least one of them out. Luckily, I was able to dismiss Kohli,” he added.
“We don’t want to sledge them. We have grown up, seeing them play and we can’t imagine sledging them. Cricket is a gentleman’s game and should remain that way. Also, because there are demerit points, we have to be careful,” Saifuddin added further.
India then met Bangladesh yet again during the 40th match of the tournament. Rohit brought up one of his five tons in the championship against the Tigers and the Men in Blue won that game by 28 runs.
The margin of Bangladesh’s loss would have been greater if Saifuddin wouldn’t have contributed with the bat.
The 23-year-old grabbed many eyeballs with his flashy knock of 51* which came off just 38 balls. The left-hander smashed nine majestic boundaries on the way to his half-century.
During the same interaction, Saifuddin revealed about MS Dhoni and VVS Laxman being impressed with his abilities. The two Indian greats also enquired about him for featuring in their respective IPL franchises in the next season.
