Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni
You must have heard former Indian captain, MS Dhoni, repeatedly shouting from behind the stumps while referring to a person named 'chiku'. For avid followers of the game, they know that 'chiku' is none other than the incumbent captain Virat Kohli. It must have occurred to you the reason behind this name that Dhoni has given to Kohli. And on Thursday, Kohli revealed the story behind his nickname during a live Instagram chat with former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
While he did mention that the name was popularised by Dhoni from behind the stumps as we have often heard it through the stump mics, Kohli said that the name was given to him by former Delhi Ranji coach.
Kohli had big cheeks then and had protruding ears. He was also suffering from a massive hair fall and so had got his hair cropped small. His Ranji coach felt his face resembled that of 'chiku', the rabbit in the famous comic book Champak. Hence the name.
"MS has made my name famous from behind the stumps. I got this name from my Ranji Trophy coach. So back then, I had big cheeks and my ears were out and then since I was having a massive hair fall, I cut it short. Now, then, we had a comic book name Champak which a character named Chiku, the rabbit. So the coach felt my face looked exactly like that rabbit and so he gave me that name.," he told Peitersen.
The England cricketer, prior to the interview, had also shared a picture of Kohli's younger days and asked him about the photo.
The 31-year-old laughed and recollected the good old days when Royal Challengers Bangalore had a 'gun team' also comprising Pietersen.
"I don't recognise him anymore. We did have a lot of fun then. 2009 and 2010 you were with us and we really hit off from day 1. And we had a gun team with Mark Boucher and Kallis," he recalled.
