When Gilchrist turned chef

Great stuff, apparently. Kings XI Punjab’s Adam Gilchrist, Ryan McLaren and Piyush Chawla were found doing something rather offbeat in the middle of the IPL season – they were found slogging it out over pots and pans of food at the ITC Maurya recently! Kunal Vijaykar, the host of the Times Now show “The Foodie”, was with them, and he told us what the cricketers were like on this rather different pitch.
“I met the cricketers with some trepidation, because I’m not a huge cricket fan and I can’t talk cricket. So I decided to stick to food, and all three of the guys opened up to me about their likes and dislikes. Piyush Chawla said that he travels a lot now, and hasn’t been home for four months, so what he misses most is his maa ke haath ke Rajma Chawal! Gilchrist was completely at home in the kitchen. He told me about the strong barbecue culinary culture in Australia – apparently, every guy has his own grill and it’s a very guy thing, no other man is allowed to go near it! So Gilly was extremely comfortable as ITC Maurya’s chef, Chef Manisha Bhasin, made the guys chop and fry and cut vegetables,” says Kunal.
McLaren, who’s South African, was also okay there – he told Kunal about the South African version of the barbecue, the braii. But Piyush, like the typical Indian guy, was rather unfamiliar with the kitchen, and so he had the hardest time! “In fact, I’m surprised by cricketers sometimes – Matthew Hayden, when I interviewed him, turned out to be a proper chef! He’s written cookbooks, had his own cookery show, runs restaurants...,” says Kunal. While Gilly cooked up the AGilly Sliders, juicy lamb patties that just slide into burgers, McLaren dished out the Kings XI Prawns, and Piyush stuck to the World Cup Salad.
Chandna Arora