Virat ate mutton rice and everything and walked miles to get to the various food stalls: Sangwan

Before Virat Kohli’s landmark 100th Test match, a couple of Indian cricketers who played with him at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup shared some interesting stories about him. As Indian cricketer Virat Kohli prepares to become the 12th player to play a century of Test matches and join an elite list of players, tributes have poured in from all over the world, and spinner Iqbal Abdulla and fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan are joining the list.

In a recent interview, Sangwan revealed Kohli was a big foodie when he was a kid. It is well known that Kohli loves junk food, but he is equally renowned for his fierce determination, which transformed him from being a fast-food junkie into one of the fittest athletes in the world. “Kohli returned to Delhi Ranji in 2010, when everything had changed. He ate boiled food. At any given time, he would not drink more than 200 ml. Diet food replaced rice-mutton curry. He had changed so much. During the IPL I used to see him every morning for his workout. It was mostly in the gym that I saw him. He had far more focus than anyone else. It is common for cricketers to get lazy from time to time, and have a cheat day, but Virat would never do that,’ he added.

”During the 2008 World Cup, left-arm spinner Abdulla recalled an incident in which Kohli’s decision backfired, leaving him fuming. Kohli’s emotional commitment to the game was the only reason for that. Kohli was so engrossed in a World Cup match that he forgot he had switched my field position. We still laugh at such incidents from the past,” stated Abdullah.