Virat Kohli makes special food request for lunch during Ranji Trophy return, canteen head also reveals Indian star's favourite dish

Legendary Indian batter Virat Kohli's return to India's top domestic tournament, the Ranji Trophy after a span of more than 12 years has created an extraordinary buzz. Be it the massive crowd coming at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi or social media, the Indian star's appearance in Delhi's clash against Railways on January 30 (Thursday) has become sensational. In anticipation of the first day's action, fans crowded the stadium early in the morning to catch a glimpse of their favourite cricket player.

Virat's special food request

Recently, the news of Virat Kohli eating Kadhi Chawal with the rest of the players during practice went viral. Now, Virat has made a special request for lunch in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match. In an exclusive conversation with Sports Today, the Canteen head of Arun Jaitley Stadium, Sanjay Jha revealed that the star player has requested them to make Chilli Paneer for him for lunch. He also talked about Kohli's humble and heart-winning behaviour. He hailed Kohli for being so humble despite being a massive star.

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"I have been running this canteen for the past 25 years and I know Virat Kohli from my childhood and he used to eat from our canteen. He used to play Ranji from here, he went on to play international from here. He used to do everything from here but he doesn't have that thing called pride even today. He behave like normal people do," Canteen head Sanjay Jha said.

"I haven't met him personally yet. Our waiters give orders from there. Today he specially told us to eat chilli paneer. So we have specially sent chilli paneer for him. The best part is that He says it is our canteen. They don't say that they will eat from outside. They say that they will eat from our canteen," he added.

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He also added that Virat Kohli's favourite dish used to be Chilli Chicken back in the day. However, since the star has turned vegetarian for the past many years, he does not consume any sort of meat or non-veg food.

“Earlier, chilli chicken used to be his favourite. Not only did he use to eat it, but he also recommended it to his teammates. Now he has chole bhature or kadhi chawal. Once I asked him if we should order something from outside, but he refused, saying that he wanted to have food from our canteen itself,” Sanjay Jha said.

Delhi thrilled with Virat's return after 12 years

Kohli made his last outing in the Ranji Trophy in a match between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh at Ghaziabad back in 2012. By that point, Kohli had become India's premier batter in all three formats, although he did not have any standout performances throughout the game. Delhi lost by six wickets despite the right-handed batter scoring 14 and 43 runs in two innings. After an extended absence, he is now making his comeback to India's top domestic league, and supporters are excited to watch him play for Delhi once more.

This will be his only game for Delhi for now as he will shift his focus to the ODI series against England after this and will be eager to get some runs under his name ahead of the much-awaited edition of the Champion Trophy 2025.