Told Rohit I’ve seen you on TV for 10-12 yrs, now have to bowl at you, don’t know how: Saifuddin

Before India and Bangladesh faced off in the 40th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, the two teams took on each other in one of the practice matches ahead of the tournament. India and Bangladesh played the second warm-up at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens and batting first, KL Rahul and MS Dhoni scored centuries to take the total to 359/7.

Bangladesh pacer Mohammad Saifuddin, who had played 14 ODIs till then, revealed how he was in awe of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and lived his dream of bowling to two of the world's best batsmen.

"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 said during an interview with BDCrictime.

Saifuddin went on to describe how he was eager to get either Kohli or Rohit out and narrated a hilarious incident regarding the India opener. "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," Saifuddin said.

"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's demerit points, we have to be careful."