Secret behind Virat Kohli's nickname 'Cheeku' revealed by the cricketer

Cricketers are often given a nickname and it is not a new trend. If not by their teammates they will get one by their fans but eventually, they will. Some cricketers get nicknames based on their skills such as Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Master Blaster’ or Rohit Sharma’s ‘Hitman’ and there are few whose generic nicknames make headlines like Ravindra Jadeja’s ‘Jaddu’ and Bhuveneshwar Kumar’s ‘Bhuvi’.

But Virat Kohli is not either of them, his nickname stands out just like him. Virat Kohli has a unique nickname ‘Cheeku’ which seems it must be because of his chubby past. No, that’s not the reason behind his uniquely funny nickname.

There is a story behind it, a story that not everyone knows. During his Under-17 days when Virat was part of Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team, he got a cropped up haircut. Kohli was not a part of playing XI then because of some big names like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the team. But he was more than happy to share the dressing room with stars he looked up to.

After Kohli arrived with his short haircut, he asked some of his young teammates about how he looked. His assistant coach said you look like a Cheeku (Rabbit). Cheeku the rabbit was a character from a comic book ‘Champak’.

Kohli during an event said, when MS Dhoni got to know about the nickname he started calling him out in the field which was caught by stump mics and it spread like a fire.

Also read: Virat Kohli reveals his biggest blessing in life apart from cricket