5 quirky things about Virat Kohli revealed by his teammates ft. AB de Villiers, Hardik Pandya
Virat Kohli is one of the most popular cricketers in the world. The right-handed batter has made a name for himself with his extraordinary batting performances over the years. He also had a phenomenal run as India's captain from 2015 to 2021.
While Kohli is no longer the captain of the Indian team, he still continues to be an integral part of the Indian squad. He won the Man of the Match award in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa two months ago. Besides, he is also the highest run-getter in IPL history and won the Orange Cap in IPL 2024.
Despite achieving so much success, Kohli has been down to earth and formed great bonds with his teammates in international cricket as well as the IPL. Some of his teammates even spilled some secrets about the star Indian batter. Here's a list of five quirky things disclosed by Kohli's teammates.
#1 Dinesh Karthik discloses Virat Kohli's fascination about aliens
Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik played many matches with Kohli in international cricket and the IPL. Having spent so much time with the star batter, Karthik came to know about Kohli's fascination about aliens.
"I don't believe in aliens. Actually, I don't have much knowledge in that domain. But I'll tell you who's interested in aliens and who's read up about it, knows a bit about it. You'll be surprised, yes, Virat Kohli," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik further mentioned that Kohli even showed him YouTube videos of aliens spotted somewhere in the United States.
#2 Is Virat Kohli the most romantic Indian cricketer?
The love story of Virat and Anushka Sharma is well-known. Anushka has been present at the stadium for the majority of Virat's matches, including some Tests as well. Even Virat has supported Anushka in her projects.
Back in 2018/19, Hardik Pandya revealed that Virat was the most romantic cricketer in the Indian team at that time. Pandya said that on a Koffee With Karan episode, where KL Rahul also agreed with him.
#3 Why AB de Villiers had to stop talking with Virat Kohli
AB de Villiers played alongside Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011 to 2021. Despite being from different continents, Virat and de Villiers became close friends. Speaking on Breakfast With Champions, AB disclosed that he had to stop talking with Virat once because the latter would order whichever thing he expressed his desire to have.
"He’s ridiculous, man. I told him I like coffee the other day. Now I’m getting an espresso machine – he’s ordered on Amazon. It’s being delivered tomorrow," AB said.
#4 When Virat Kohli would dance to Chiranjeevi's songs
Dwarka Ravi Teja is an uncapped Indian cricketer, who shared the dressing room with Virat during his U-15 days. In July 2022, Teja caught up with Virat in Birmingham and clicked a picture with him. Sharing it on Instagram, the former Deccan Chargers player wrote:
"Throwback to U-15 days when we were roommates and I used to watch Chiranjeevi’s songs on tv and he used to dance to them and from then on we never called each other by our names and Chiru was the nickname we gave each other and whenever we met post that we always called each other Chiru."
Despite becoming such a big name in world cricket, Virat remembered Teja. In fact, he even asked him, 'Chiru, how are you?' when they met.
#5 When Virat Kohli and Pradeep Sangwan got chased by unknown men in South Africa
Kohli loves chasing targets on the field, but during his early days as a cricketer, he got chased by strangers in South Africa. Kohli's U-19 teammate Pradeep Sangwan disclosed that the star batter took him to a relatively unsafe place to eat non-veg food. The driver warned them, but Kohli was adamant.
"I got scared, but he said, ‘chal yaar, wahan chalenge’ (no biggie, dude, let’s go) and he took me there too. We ate and few random guys chased us, but we just drove our car back and only stopped after reaching our place," Pradeep narrated the incident to The Indian Express.
Kohli and the rest of the Indian team will enjoy a break from cricket now. The series against Sri Lanka ended yesterday, and the next match is against Bangladesh on September 19.