Star batter Virat Kohli called time on his T20I career after Team India clinched the T20 World Cup 2024 trophy. Despite going through a lean patch in the entire tournament, Kohli broke the shackles and smashed 76 runs in the final against South Africa and bagged the Player of the Match award. Apart from being a great player, Kohli is widely popular for his style and aggressive on-field attitude. However, former India football team captain Sunil Chhetri revealed a very different side of the 35-year-old batter.

Chhetri, who shares a very good bond of friendship with Kohli, revealed in a podcast that the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper is a humorous guy who can “crack anyone up”.

“He is a good dude. He is genuinely a nice guy. I’m sure that many people will never get to know that part of him. He is amazingly funny. Even if I bring him and if you are oblivious to the fact that he’s Virat Kohli, he will crack you up. He is funny, apart from the fact that all the other great things he is. He is a good guy which is nowadays very difficult,” said Chhetri on a podcast with YouTube Raj Shamani.

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“Some way our upbringing is the same. We come from the same place, we have similar dreams; we just chose 2 different sports. That is why probably we connected. I have so much love and respect for him & his family,” he added.

Chhetri, who retired from international football, earlier this month, also said his chat with Kohli on social media is generally regarding memes and food.

“Virat sends funny memes, I send back as well – that is the majority chat. Sometimes, we talk about life. The best thing is that, when I tell something, he says ‘I understand’,” said Chhetri.

“I genuinely like him. Forget that he is Virat Kohli. The whole world knows it,” he added.

Earlier during the interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kohli opened up that he had zero confidence heading into the final, and how the then head coach Rahul Dravid and India captain Rohit Sharma motivated him.

“Whatever I was trying, it wasn’t coming off. Whenever you feel like ‘I can do it,’ it’s just the arrogance speaking. Basically, if your ego comes up, the game goes away from you. Sometimes, it’s important to let that arrogance go off. There was no margin for arrogance in the final, especially with how everything panned out. As soon as I started giving respect to the game, it benefitted the team. It was a big lesson for me,” said Kohli.