You may have heard Indian ODI and T20I skipper MS Dhoni screaming ‘Chikoo’ when the ball travels to Virat Kohli fielding in the outfield. The stump mic picks up everything whatever Dhoni utters from behind the wickets. But, have you ever wondered why Kohli is called Chikoo?
Vijay Lokapally, a senior journalist with a leading daily newspaper, ‘The Hindu’, has recently published a biography on Kohli titled ‘Driven: The Virat Kohli Story’, where he has revealed how the Delhi-boy received his nickname.
According to Lokapally, Kohli received this funny ‘fruity’ nickname during his days as a junior cricketer.
“The Delhi team was playing Ranji Trophy match in Mumbai. Virat has not even played a total of 10 first-class matches. He was a part of set-up that included players he had looked up to – (Virender) Sehwag, (Gautam) Gambhir, (Rajat) Bhatia and (Mithun) Manhas. He was more than happy to be sharing dressing room with them.
“One evening, he returned to the hotel with his hair nicely cropped. He has spotted a fancy hair salon close by and given himself a new look.
“How is it?” Kohli asked excitedly as he ran into a couple of younger colleagues.
“Not bad, you look like a Chikoo (Sapodilla),” joked Ajit Chowdhary, the assistant coach looking from a distance.
“The name struck. Chikoo. Virat didn’t mind it all,” Lokapally wrote in the biography.
