Virat Kohli’s face was filled with joy when he was purportedly offered chole bhature during the second Test match between India and Australia in Delhi. In the past his wife Anushka Sharma, the actress, had said that “he watches Delhi chole bhature videos in his free time!”.
Former Indian cricketer and broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar perhaps attempted some humour when he called it, ”That is called stress eating”.
Virat Kohli was sitting on the team balcony, chatting with the coach Rahul Dravid, when a person nudged him, holding a food parcel. Kohli turned around and such was his delight that he clapped his hands in great joy, triggering a smile from Dravid.
In the post-game show on Star Sports, Mayanti Langer identified it as chole bhature, and added, “Typical Diliwala boy reaction to Chole Bhature when brought in; did you see that? Virat just gives that tap of yes because he professed his love for chole bhature with some little highlight”.
Chole bhature 🤝 pic.twitter.com/dc9aIIuBvM
— nirmitjatana (@nirmit_jatana) February 18, 2023
Kohli’s love for Chole Bhature is well-documented in the past. He famously in an interview acknowledged how much he loves the delicacy but had to limit it to maintain his fitness. He also mentioned his favourite is Delhi’s “Ram ke chole bhature”.
Virat’s love for authentic Delhi food was also chronicled by Anushka Sharma in a hilarious post on Instagram last October. “Today is a big day in our home! Finally, after what seemed like a never-ending search (honestly I had given up) for ekdum Delhi-jaise-chole-bhature in Mumbai, I am more than happy to announce that this search has ended and I have given my husband ecstatic joy,” she wrote
Sharing how much Virat misses this Delhi-special meal, she added, “Those who know him know his love for chole bhature. The one cheat meal he has no guilt over (he watches Delhi chole bhature videos in his free time).”
The superstar’s dismissal during India’s innings was controversial as he was given out LBW on 44 where it wasn’t evident either the ball has hit the bat first or the pad.
However, courtesy of Axar Patel (74) and Ravichandran Ashwin (37) who added 114 runs before Australia bowled out India for 262 for a one-run lead. Had the two all-rounders not bailed the hosts out, Australia would have been far more happy than they actually were at stumps.
Australia opened their batting with Usman Khawaja and Travis Head extending their lead to 62 runs against India at the end of day 2 of the second Test on Saturday. The visitors were on 61 for one when stumps were called. Travis Head was batting on a run-a-ball 39 at stumps, with Marnus Labuschagne on 16 at the other end.
David Warner is ruled out of the Test due to a concussion and Matt Renshaw has been named as his replacement.