Virat Kohli on turning vegetarian: Had to give up meat due to medical condition

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 3, 2020, 11:06 AM IST

Why did Virat Kohli turn vegetarian? Here is the answer from the Indian captain himself. He explains why he had to give up meat in 2018

Bengaluru: A major medical condition forced India captain Virat Kohli turn vegetarian, the batsman himself has revealed. While talking to former England skipper Kevin Pietersen on Instagram on Thursday (April 2), Kohli said he gave up non-vegetarian food in 2018.

“I wasn't a vegetarian till 2018. When we actually came to England, I left eating meat just before the Test series started,” Kohli told Pietersen while chatting live on Instagram.

Tap to resize

Latest Videos

Also read: England tour 'demolished me', says Virat Kohli

Throwing light on his medical condition at the time, the Delhi right-hander explained, “In 2018 when we went to South Africa I got a cervical spine issue, while playing a Test match at Centurion…one of the discs in my cervical spine bulged out and it compressed a nerve which was running straight till the little finger of my right hand. So it gave me a tingling sensation, I could barely feel my little finger on the right hand. It was hurting like mad, I could hardly sleep at night. And then I got my tests done.

“My stomach was too acidic, my body was creating too much uric acid, my body was too acidic. What was happening was, even though I was taking calcium, magnesium everything, one tablet was not sufficient for my body to function properly. So my stomach started pulling calcium from my bones, and my bones got weaker. That's why I got this issue. That's why I stopped eating meat completely in the middle of the England tour to cut down the uric acid and the acidity in my body.”

For more reliable and latest news