West Indies vs India 2016: Indian players enjoying food cooked by a Dehradun boy in the Caribbean

Virat Kohli during a Test match for India

The Indian Cricket Team is currently touring West Indies for a Four-match Test series and they will give it their all to earn a third consecutive series win on Caribbean soil. The players are training hard and sweating it out from dawn to dusk. But the management is making sure to make the players happy by providing them with the Indian food they like the most.

It is rightly said that “A way to man’s heart is through his stomach”, and the management seems to be following the same path. Indian captain Virat Kohli likes chicken kebabs and fish curry after he’s done with his day’s routine. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma follows a strict timetable and Cheteshwar Pujara is a pure vegetarian and is not fond of spicy food.

As per the reports in the Hindustan Times, it is mandatory that the meals which players get should be complemented with lots of salads, milk, fruits and different types of yoghurt and fresh juice. The current Indian Cricket Team’s chef Ramesh Chander Semwal is a boy from Dehradun who came to Antigua six months back.

The Indian players are very happy with the food he cooks. Previously it was decided that an Indian chef had to be provided otherwise they would fly in one from the country.

“Actually we were told to either provide the Indian team with an Indian caterer or they will fly in their own chef. But thankfully that has been sorted out. And I think they are happy with the food they are getting here,” said a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) spokesperson.

Previously there was an incident during India’s tour of Australia when Suresh Raina left the Gabba dressing room lunch buffet after finding that they were not enough food options for them. The BCCI seems to have taken the matter seriously and is taking care such that a repeat of the incident doesn’t occur.

As a measure, the contract was given to a local restaurant called Spices of India who jumped at the opportunity. “We actually had to fly in a custom made tandoor oven from Mumbai only for this game since we were told that the players prefer kebabs,” said Kishore Rajpal, co-owner of the restaurant.

Among the most hit foods are the tikka, pahari kebab, paneer tikka, harabhara kebab, galafi sheek of chicken, mutton burrs kebabs and tandoori chicken. While most of the players enjoy a bite of these foods, Cheteswar Pujara, being a veggie, prefers dal tarka, palak paneer, chana and rajma.

India begins their first Test against West Indies on 21st July, in Antigua.