Ace India batter Virat Kohli has looked back at his first interaction with Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian dressing room, where some of his seniors left him embarrassed after successfully pulling off a prank. While the funny anecdote has earlier been shared by Kohli on a few occasions, the sheer comedy of the situation always makes it a funny listen.
Kohli shared how during India’s home ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2008, his senior teammates instructed him to bow down to Tendulkar when they first met. The former, taking the prank seriously, did as told, only to find Tendulkar taken aback.
As a youngster in just his initial days in the coveted Indian dressing room, Kohli went to the legendary batter and bowed down in front of him. Watch the video here:
Virat recalling that prank while meeting Sachin sir, “mai pairon mai gir gaya unke” 😂 pic.twitter.com/Wysq0zoGJo
— p • 💌 (@ssnoozefest) November 7, 2024
"First time I met him, main pairon mein gir gaya unke (I fell on his feet). Maine kaha karna padhta hoga (I thought this might be the norm. Wo pichhe hat rahe hai, ki kya kar rahe ho tum (He moved back stunned, asking what I was doing. Main unko bhi nahi bol paa raha ki paaji mujhe bola thha karna padhta hai yaha pe (I couldn’t tell him either that I was told this is the norm),” Kohli said while speaking to Gaurav Kapoor in an HSBC Bank event.
"He gave all these guys a little bit. Irfan (Pathan) bhai was there, Bhajju pa (Harbhajan Singh) was there, Yuvi pa (Yuvraj Singh) of course and Munaf Patel. He used to be the one cheering from behind in his unique voice. Unhone sabne mereko fasaya (All of them pranked me),” Kohli added.
The ace batter made his India debut in 2008 during the ODI series against Sri Lanka and it was not long before he shared the field with Tendulkar.