Kohli stopped abusing me after Tamim sledged him, reveals Imrul Kayes

An aggressive top-order batsman who, on his day, can be a force to be reckoned with, Imrul Kayes was highly rated since his teenage days and went on to make his international debut at just the age of 21. A year before his national debut, Kayes, as revealed by himself, moved to Australia after getting a scholarship and incidentally, there, met up with Virat Kohli amongst other Indian U19 players, as the young Blue colts had visited the Oceanic country for a camp post their successful U19 World Cup triumph in 2008.

‘’When I joined the national team my first game with him was in 2011. He was sledging me in the first game. I was surprised at that time. We spent a month together and he came to the field and started to sledge me. I didn't say anything. I told Tamim. Later Tamim sledged him so bad. Later Virat stopped. You know, Tamim can do these very well, he is very aggressive on the field. Since then, Virat Kohli has not treated me badly ever.”

‘’In the Fatullah Test he[ Kohli] has sledged almost everyone but he didn't say a word to me. Also, the last time when we went to play a Test series in India, he used abusive language to more or less everyone but didn't say a word to me.”

However, Kayes expressed his admiration for Kohli the cricketer and the human and went on to describe the Indian as a ‘legend’ and added that the latter still comes up to him and chats with him, after all these years.