India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik revealed that former India captain Virat Kohli was a huge foodie when he started out in cricket and loved enjoying all sorts of fatty foods, fast food and sweets. Virat Kohli had made his India debut in 2008 after a successful U19 World Cup win in Malaysia.
Since then he has been a beacon of fitness for everyone and during his tenure as Indian team captain, he ensured that other players also got inspired by him and got onto the fitness journey. He recently broke a three-year-plus drought of no century in Test cricket.
He smashed 186 in the fourth and final Test against Australia in Ahmedabad, his 28th Test and 75th international century. With Sri Lanka losing to New Zealand in their Test match, India also qualified for the WTC Final despite a draw.
Kohli clobbered 186 runs off 364 balls, with most of his runs coming off singles, doubles, and threes. During his knock, he clattered 15 fours. Talking about the same, his former India teammate and current RCB teammate, Dinesh Karthik praised Kohli for his fitness.
“Number one and first word that I will put is discipline. Second thing, fitness is not about just and only hitting the gym or running. It is a lifestyle. So what you put into your mouth is as important as the amount of workouts and running you do and that is where Virat Kohli is brilliant. He was a foodie, he used to enjoy all sorts of fatty foods, sweets, just like all of us”, he said during an interaction with Cricbuzz.
“But he put a massive cut on all of that so that he can become the cricketer he wants to be and that’s the sacrifice you need to make. Have a look at the bigger picture and say if that is what I want to be in 5-10 years time, I need to cut down on certain things in my life that I am doing right now. That’s the decision he’s taken and you can see the results that have followed”, he added.
He Has Given Up On That, Sacrificed On That: Dinesh Karthik On Virat Kohli Keeping His Fitness Up Even When He Was Out Of Form
Not only this, Karthik also went on to say that Kohli kept on working on his fitness even though he wasn’t in good form and was facing plenty of criticism.
“It is a great case of not giving up because when he’s had his bad run, things weren’t going his way, the one thing he consistently kept doing is training and eating well. So there are many moments during that when his mind says it’s okay, do something that you’ve probably liked before, stay happy. But he has given up on that, sacrificed on that, hoping that one day it will come to use and these are the kind of days when he’s batting on 130, 140, needs to take that quick single”, he said.
Kohli will be seen in action when India takes on Australia in a three-ODI series starting on March 17 in Mumbai.