Even in Cricket Fraternity, few would struggle to forget about the nickname Cheeku for one Virat Kohli. No wonder, there is plenty of literature about its history. Nevertheless, the batting hotshot is of the opinion that it is MS Dhoni who took it to the next level and that’s when the fans started calling him Cheeku.
“In India, people call me ‘Cheeku’ in a way that I am their neighbor or something of this sort. It was Virat who had told me during my interaction with him in Instagram some years back,” Kevin Pieterson said.
Due to Kohli’s chubby cheeks and the distinct resemblance of his ear to that of the rabbit, he earned his late in high school when a coach referred him to Cheeku the rabbit in a comic ‘champak’.
Kohli recalled the day when Pieterson baffled him by probing him about the name he is commonly identified with and why. The batting great reiterated the same tale that he has recounted time and again to many.
“This nickname is given to me by a coach who first saw me in the Ranji trophy. I used to have big cheeks then. This is somewhere around 2007 when I felt I am losing hair. I got my hair cut short, my shoulders and head were normal and my face looked like a melon with chubby cheeks and big ears, that meekah name. I remember that name because it came from a cartoon. The rabbit of the Champak comic,” he explained.
He further said that it’s one thing to keep the wickets, but it is Dhoni who made the name popular when he was calling him ‘Cheeku’.
‘MS (Dhoni) has sort of made my nickname famous from behind the stumps. In stumps mike people pick up’ Kohli said.
Soon when these fans caught a glimpse of Kohli, they started calling him ‘Cheeku’.
‘They will scream – ‘don’t climb modern art hey Cheeku one photo please’, and I am like ‘I have a name. You people don’t know me? I am sorry no one can call me Cheeku in this crowd’, Kohli said with a smile.
Kohli’s next assignment will be in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting later this month.
