The England cricket team will be coming to India this month with their personal chef to avoid the risk of falling ill on the tour, according to a Telegraph report.
Who is England's chef?
The team management has decided to travel with Omar Meziane, who is the head chef at Premier League giants Manchester United football club.
Meziane will reportedly join the squad in Hyderabad, just before the start of the five-Test series against India starting January 25.
He had gone on the Pakistan tour last year with the England team to cook food for the players in the hotel and the dressing room.
England's lack of trust on Indian hotels/grounds
“England insist it has nothing to do with not trusting hotels to provide clean facilities and is instead about ensuring players, especially those who refuse to eat spicy food, are eating nutritious meals rather than filling up on energy bars and pizzas,” reported the Telegraph.
Former India players not happy with England's decision
But this news report has not gone down too well with some of the former Indian cricketers like Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra, who took a dig at the English players for not bringing personal chefs when they come here to play in the IPL.
"Good idea. I’m sure that majority of English players must be bringing in their chefs for the IPL too….year after year. AS IF," Chopra tweeted.
"Yeh zaroorat Cook ke jaane ke baad padhi. IPL mein nahi padegi," Sehwag tweeted on X.
England Squad for India Tour
Ben Stokes (Durham – captain), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Tom Hartley (Lancashire), Jack Leach (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
India vs England Test series itinerary:
1st Test: India v England, 25-29 January, Hyderabad
2nd Test: India v England, 2-6 February, Vizag
3rd Test: India v England, 15-19 February, Rajkot
4th Test: India v England, 23-27 February, Ranchi
5th Test: India v England, 7-11 March, Dharamsala
