The schedule for today’s international cricketers has become increasingly demanding.
Besides taking part in T20 franchise leagues, there are three distinct game formats — Tests, ODIs, and T20Is — all of which make it challenging for them to maintain their mental and physical peak form.
So, to elevate their on-field game, a handful of Indian cricketers have sought assistance from private chefs to give them an edge.
These globe-trotting private chefs prepare freshly cooked meals that satisfy cricketers’ hunger and give them the energy to excel on the field.
Chef Harsh Dixit, founder of Mumbai-based The Private Chefs Club, provides private chefs to India captain Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav while on cricket tours.
He said each player had a meticulous food plan to meet their individual requirements, according to the formats they are engaged in at specific times.
For a test match, players must be fuelled enough to make it through over 50 overs each day from morning to evening.
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“If it’s a T20 match, you can’t be having a very heavy meal because you have to perform in a three-hour match and it has to be very fast, very quick – so a lot of electrolytes and lighter meals are consumed at that time,” he said.
“After winning a match, if you feel like eating a biryani, the chef makes sure that it’s still meeting the nutrition guidelines in some way as a victorious meal.”
Mr Dixit said players were becoming more conscious of what worked for them in terms of food, and once a formula was established, it could be built upon to help sustain players’ energy.
The environment, like very hot day matches in Nagpur, can also affect what is served.
“Those are the days you have to serve them a curd rice, simple dal chawal and keep them not on a very protein-rich diet,” he said.
“Plus, it also ensures that their system is not too overloaded, as that is something not going to hamper with their thought process while they’re playing a high-pressure match.”
Mumbai nutritionist Shweta Shah, who works with Rishabh Pant, agreed that different formats affected what meals were important.
“For Test cricket, you need sustained energy levels over a long period of time, so we basically focus on more of complex carbohydrates and proteins for great endurance,” she said.
“For T20s, foods rich in boosting energy and are fast in digesting are given high preference; these are very much essential to match the intensity of that shorter period.
“ODIs is like balancing the energy spikes and also the quick recovery.”
Former India Test opener Aakash Chopra hails from a generation of players who ate deep-fried snacks like samosas and pakoras after games without any awareness of performance-based nutrition.
Now a cricket broadcaster, he said the significant change in players’ nutritional requirements was phenomenal.
“It’s because now you are looking at one-percenters — everything has small things, and you move forward by doing 1 per cent,” he said.
“Whether you think it is important enough and if that can actually add something to your game as a cricketer, then make the most of it, because eventually you have to score runs and take wickets.”
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Originally comprising three individuals, The Private Chefs Club in Mumbai has now expanded to a team of 20 members.
They previously provided private chefs to Pandya brothers Hardik and Krunal, Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, and Ravichandran Ashwin.
These chefs will make their presence felt when the Indian team plays the marquee Border-Gavaskar Trophy from November 22 to January 7.
Chef Rounak Shah will cook for Rahul, while Chef Sai Kshitij will oversee Rohit’s dietary needs.
While they are still waiting for confirmation from Ashwin for the trip to Australia, Chef Kshitij Kumar will oversee cooking for Suryakumar Yadav when he captains India in the four T20Is against South Africa from November 8 to 15.
Cooking for the players
Ms Shah enlisted the services of Akshay Arora, a private chef and the founder of Neat Meals, a Mumbai-based luxury meal service, to provide Rishabh Pant with personalised healthy meals starting in January 2024.
It occurred as he observed the scarcity of good chefs in various hotels where Pant stayed, affecting his adherence to a strict nutritional regimen.
It was especially significant as he aspired to return to cricket via IPL 2024 after a prolonged recovery from a car accident in December 2022.
When Mr Arora started working with Pant, his initial goal was to shed some weight before his much-anticipated return to competitive cricket.
But after one to two months, he recognised the significant impact of clean eating on his on-field performance and maintained the practice since.
“The education in the space of health is really coming from the West now into our country,” he said.
“Cricketers are globally exposed as they keep on travelling around the world for different tournaments.
“They’ve also pretty much understood that to have the kind of performance that they need to put in to be playing well at an international level, health and nutrition does play a very important role.”
Mr Arora said Pant loaded more on carbohydrates in a heavy dinner the night before playing a Test match.
As soon as he woke up on match-day morning, he received a smoothie on the bus while travelling to the stadium.
In session breaks, he received a gluten-free wrap with chicken or a vegetarian source of protein.
“The smoothie helps him sustain the whole day, plus, you can be a little sluggish when you eat something very heavy, especially when it could be really hot and humid out over there,” Mr Arora said.
“When he comes back to the hotel, like if it is a Test match, then we follow the same pattern of giving him a heavier dinner.”
Mr Arora also recently started cooking for Hardik Pandya and said the fast-bowling all-rounder was a ball of energy.
“He has a back-end system where everything is really precise, and well-managed by his team of physios, trainers, strength and conditioning people to batting and bowling coaches, plus nutrition going hand in hand,” he said.
He said Pandya had simple dietary needs, apart from his family khichdi recipe – comfort food with special A2 cow ghee.
“Other than that, he prefers Indian food not too high on spices. He also likes well-cooked food which is basically clean and comforting,” he said.
Working as a private chef
Although private chefs may seem to enjoy luxurious travel lives with their expenses covered by players, they face numerous challenges, including transporting cartons of ingredients, particularly in cities where they may not be readily accessible.
They are also responsible for carrying a variety of utensils, including an induction cooktop, and are required to deal with the challenge of cooking in hotel kitchens while upholding strict hygiene standards.
“When we go to another hotel and cook food, one has to understand it’s a whole different territory for us,” Mr Arora said.
He said they needed to liaise with the hotel staff, figure out the right place to cook, and speak with management and the head chef.
“We also make sure that flesh is fresh because we can’t carry chicken with us and the same is true for vegetables, fresh herbs and berries,” he said.
“These are things that we have to ask the hotel to arrange for us, and ensure the quality we’re getting is of a particular standard that can be served.”
Mr Dixit said private chefs must pack specific brands of ingredients such as ghee, flour, or oil based on the players’ diets.
“Sometimes you might have to carry half a kitchen with you to make sure that you can perform in the same way as they would expect the same standard, dish, and quality at all times,” he said.
Mr Arora said he foresaw a gradual growth in demand for private chefs among cricketers but acknowledged that widespread acceptance may take time.
“At some point, the Indian cricket team is going to appoint a company like ours, so that the responsibility of nutrition and food of the entire team goes to one particular company taking care of it,” he said.
