Kohli is widely regarded as one of the fittest cricketers in the world.
The former skipper achieved this feat in the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali, where India registered an innings and 222 runs victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
After a forgettable start to his Test career against the West Indies in 2011, Kohli has come a long way in his decade-long journey, during which he amassed 8007 runs at an average of 50.35 with 27 centuries in the longest format.
See Also: "Full of ups and downs and learnings," Virat Kohli reflects on his journey after 100 Tests
However, the path to greatness wasn’t an easy one for Kohli. The Delhi lad began his transformation back in 2012 when he underwent a diet change.
Recently, Virat’s former India U-19 teammate Pradeep Sangwan revealed the ex-India captain’s fondness for food.
"He had been my room partner for seven-eight years in junior cricket. He used to love food, street food especially. He was a foodie, korma rolls, chicken rolls were his favourite. We were in South Africa with the India under 19 team, and someone told him that you get nice mutton roll at some place, but it's not in a secure neighbourhood," Sangwan wrote in his column for The Indian Express.
"Our driver too told us that food is nice but recently some fight took place around there and someone chopped someone's hand there. I got scared, but he said, 'chal yaar, wahan chalenge' (no biggie, dude, let's go) and he took me there too. We ate and few random guys chased us, but we just drove our car back and only stopped after reaching our place."
Recalling Kohli’s transformation journey, Sangwan said the India batter decided to change his lifestyle in 2012 and focus on disciplined meals.
"After playing for India, he came to play for us in 2012 and this was the time he went to another level in terms of his diet. We used to call him cheeku-motu in the team. But in 2012 he came with a plan where he began look after his fitness. He began to follow a strict diet. He was determined to lose his weight, and wanted to shed few kilos. He wanted to be a good fielder, he was a safe fielder then too but in terms of reflexes, he felt he was not upto the mark. He wanted to be the best fielder. He liked to bat for hours in the nets and then he would go do some more knocking," mentioned Sangwan.
"We had discussed that he needs to reduce his weight many times. He began to do it on his own and in the next three months he reduced 12 kgs. Inside the dressing room, his meals changed. From mutton-rice, he started bringing all the boiled stuff. Boiled sprouts, egg, green salads, dry fruits. He used to eat by weighing his portions sometimes. Like one day, he said he will eat only 200 grams, one day he said he will take only 200 ml of liquid. Pehle, mutton aur rice ka dongaa bhar ke khaata tha, and then suddenly he was picking on his food. He ate cereals in the night, sometimes fruit, brought his own chips."