England cricket team’s decision to bring Manchester United’s chef on tour has caused a stir in India | OneFootball

England’s cricket team are to take Manchester United’s club chef on tour with them to India this month.

This is according to Indian sports new site, myKhel, who claim that “England will be travelling to the sub-continent with the famous football club Manchester United’s chef, in order to ensure nutritious food for players”.

The Telegraph also reports on the news and claims the real reason is that “England will take chef to India to avoid players falling ill”.

“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.”

Omar Meziane, the United head chef, also has a relationship with the cricket team as he is a consultant to the English Cricketing Board according to his X page (formerly Twitter).

The chef is also the co-author of a book entitled “Cooking for Fitness”.

Meziane has already been on tour with the English cricket team when he “travelled with the English side to Pakistan in December 2022. Ben Stokes and side whitewashed Pakistan in the series”.

The chef is also widely respected for his work with the England football team from 2017-2022 as well as the Great Britain rowing team at the 2016 Olympics.

However, legendary Indian batsman, Virender Sehwag, saw the funny side and he “retweeted England’s official fan group, the Barmy Army’s tweet on the news and he reacted in a sarcastic manner and said, ‘The requirement came after Cook’s departure. Won’t be required during the IPL’.

The decision was met with more derision on the sub-continent as former India cricketer-turned commentator, Aakash Chopra, sarcastically wrote, “good idea. I am sure that the majority of English players must be bringing in their chefs for the IPL too, year after year. As if.”

And veteran Indian cricket journalist Anand Vasu wrote: “They only stay in the fanciest five to seven star hotels that have award winning chefs and multiple restaurants. At one level this is just offensive.”

Clearly, nobody has told the England national team about the raw chicken being served at Old Trafford and the consequent plummeting of the kitchen’s health rating.