Rohit Sharma had difficulties facing Brett Lee and Dale Steyn

New Delhi: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma has revealed that he had difficulty facing both Brett Lee and Dale Steyn during the initial phase of his career.

The Indian batsman made the comments during an Instagram Live session with pacer Mohammed Shami when the latter asked the right-handed batsman to name some of his favourite bowlers.

From the current lot, Rohit chose Proteas' Kagiso Rabada and Australia's Josh Hazelwood. It was then that Rohit revealed that he also had difficulty in facing Brett Lee and Dale Steyn.

"When I came into the side, the fastest bowler in the world used to be Brett Lee. In my debut ODI series, I went to Ireland to face South Africa, and Dale Steyn was pretty quick then as well. When I started playing, I really liked Lee and Steyn. I had difficulties in facing them," said Rohit.

"From the current lot, Rabada is a good bowler. I really like Josh Hazelwood as well. He bowls with great discipline," he added.

Rohit had made his ODI debut in 2007 in the tri-nation series involving Ireland and South Africa.

The 33-year old is the only player in the world to have three double tons to his name in ODI cricket. He also holds the record for the highest individual score in the 50-over format -- 264 runs against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens.

The right-handed batsman has scored two ODI double tons against Sri Lanka and one against Australia.

In the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Rohit Sharma finished the tournament as the highest run-scorer with 648 runs from just nine matches at an average of 81.00.

During the tournament, he had also become the first batsman to score five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup.

Rohit, who is now the vice-captain of the ODI team, has played 224 ODIs, 108 T20Is, and 32 Tests so far. He has so far scored 14,029 runs across all formats.

He reinvented himself in the longest format, and started opening the batting last year.