Indian cricketers have always conquered the hearts of millions of cricket lovers for their on-field performances and dedication to the nation. But what most of us don’t know is their love for food and their initiatives to serve their fans through fine mouth-watering delicacies.

Here is a list of 6 Indian restaurants by 6 great Indian cricketers-while some have seen the sunshine of the day, others ended up being a disaster.

Jaddu’s Food Field-Ravindra Jadeja

India’s spin bowling maestro Ravindra Jadeja unveiled his first restaurant in 2012. At that time, he was struggling to cement his place in the Indian team. He inaugurated the diner on December 12, 2012, the day when he was asked to represent India in Test matches. According to him, 12 is a lucky number for him since he was born in the 12th month of the year — December 6, 1988. He also stated that he wears 12 no.jersey since he considers the number to be lucky. Coincidentally, he also picked for Test cricket in the 12th month of 2012.

ZK’s-Zaheer Khan

This scheming, adroit, Indian pacer has savoured success in the restaurant business since he opted to open a chain of restaurants. Zaheer’s first venture, a restaurant in Pune called ZK’s, was opened in 2004 when he was in a flamboyant form for his country.

Later he owned a company called Banquet Foyer, which organises corporate events. Back in 2013, when he was playing the last days of his cricketing career, he opened a lounge called ‘Toss’ in Pune which was inaugurated in the presence of some of his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates.

Apart from prioritising cricket, he was setting his eyes on other priorities. He slowly built a team, and things started going uphill when his restaurants started recording a surge in footfalls on a daily basis.

Eleven’s-Kapil Dev

Our favourite Kapil Dev kickstarted a hotel-retail chain by the name ‘Kaptain’s Retreat’ back in the 80s in Chandigarh. He ventured into the hotel business, following the win of 1983 world cup and it became a gift to the city of Chandigarh. Later on, the franchise opened its doors in Patna and started serving foods from India, Pakistani, Chinese, and Thai cuisine.

Nueva-Virat Kohli

We all admire him for his exotic gameplay, respect him for his responsible gesture, and cheer for him when he dons the jersey as the captain. Virat Kohli can be genuinely called ‘Mr. Redefining’ of Indian cricket post the era of the greats like Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, and Laxman. This batting maestro from Delhi has recently launched his restaurant retail chain by the name ‘Nueva’. The place is known to serve delectable delicacies from South American cuisine. Apart from serving delicious foods, the place is renowned for being a chic destination for the frequent food-lovers, and if you are lucky, you get a chance to click a selfie with the Indian captain.

Sachin’s-Sachin Tendulkar

The Indian batting master blaster started its restaurant journey back in 2002 when he opened a restaurant called ‘Tendulkar’s’ in Mumbai. He collaborated with the eminent hotelier, Sanjay Narang, to establish and inaugurate another two in Mumbai’s northern suburbs and Bangalore.

But the destiny was not kind to him as he expected. He may be a cricketing masterclass, but on the business front, he failed to clock the numbers. In spite of showing a keen interest in the business, both his restaurants were shut down by 2007. His acclaim as a global star failed to give him stardom in the hospitality business.

Sourav’s—The Food Pavilion’-Sourav Ganguly

It was back in 2004 when the Indian batting legend and one of the greatest captains of all time, Sourav Ganguly, decided to unveil his food retail chain in Kolkata. He stepped into the world of hospitality business by opening doors to the restaurant, ‘Sourav’s—The Food Pavilion’. 

The early days of this restaurant witnessed success since the diners would go in frequently because both the food and the ambience were worth appreciation.

But destiny decided something else for ‘Dada’. Following the controversial brawl between Chappell and Sourav, the restaurant started crippling down since the legend was more concentrating on the game, on-field issue and hardly giving time to his venture. It is to the surprise of every Indian food lover that the city which literally worships him started taking their faces away from his venture. The place was officially closed down in 2011.