It is a widely known fact that the captain of the Indian football team Sunil Chhetri and his cricket counterpart Virat Kohli share a good rapport with each other. While Kohli had announced his decision to go 100% vegan a few months back, Chhetri has also gone the same route in hopes of improving his physical self at an age where quick recovery from injuries and niggles become difficult.

Already 33, Chhetri is now more focussed about his diet and workout routines. One of his partners on the subject has been none other than Kohli, who himself has been setting the fitness benchmarks for people all around the country with his determination.

In an interview with TOI, Sunil shared the rapport his shares with Virat and how the two often chat about football – with the latter also being a big fan of the sport – and diet. That’s where the footballer revealed that he has turned into a vegan, following the footsteps of his cricketer friend.

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Chhetri revealed, “Yes (when asked if Virat is in touch with him regularly). Most of our chats are about football, diet — I don’t know whether he has announced it, but he is vegan now. I am also vegan now. It is great, it is a good feeling. I didn’t start because of love for animals. Because after eating 2000 lambs I can’t say that. (But at my age) It helps in recovery.”

When asked whether Kohli convinced him to turn into a vegan, Chhetri acknowledged that he had a chat with him about the same. Remembering one of the interesting incidents from the past, Sunil revealed how he and Virat had been to a Star Sports program where the latter ordered Idli as a snack, much to the surprise of the former who wasn’t quite aware of the ‘vegan’ plans.

The Football captain said, “I did chat with him about that. He turned one almost six months back. I used to make fun of him. One of the things we did for Star Sports, he ordered for some idli and I asked him what was wrong with him. His wife is also a vegetarian.”

Admitting that Kohli’s determination to sustain on vegetarian diet paid off, Chhetri lauded the Virat as an ‘unbelievable sportsman’ who thinks and trains like a footballer.

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Chhetri explained, “It is not easy to do what he is doing. What Virat is doing is unbelievable. He is also different from others in person. What he eats, how he trains, he is different from others. He actually trains like a footballer, he talks about body fat, he talks about sprints. I think I heard some controversy about sacking some players because of beep tests, and that time I was talking with him and he was asking me about my scores, and how he wants to improve. He actually puts a lot of energy and time on being a better player and it is great because it is something which I learned from.”