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Azza eats it right

Belly rules the mind is what Azharuddin believes

HUNGRY KYA? Azharuddin is a frugal eater Photo: ANU PUSHKARNA

AT 43, Mohammed Azharuddin can give youngsters a great complex. Endowed with an enviably good height, he has a perfect physique for a sportsperson. Dressed in red and yellow tee and trousers, Azhar gets ready for a "light lunch".

As one compliments him on his perfect physique, he reacts, "Oh, that's because I take two things seriously in life - fitness and food. When I was young, I'd eat everything, from junk food to oily and spicy ones and that too, in good quantity. Later, I realised I was wrong. You must know what your body wants. Nobody will gain or lose weight if his/her food and exercise routines are organised. Being a sportsperson, for example, we do require carbohydrate, but we can't have excess of it."

And Azhar always preferred a light lunch, the evidence of which is soon provided. "Please bring me egg white omelette, salad, yellow dal and phulkas," he orders without glancing through the menu.

As he lays his hands on salad, Azhar reveals the secret of his being the fittest man in the team during his captainship.

"I had set high standards for myself in fitness. I always wanted to compete with the younger boys in the team. I would see to it that I was able to run as much, and as fast as they did. I cut down on my oily food, and stopped eating red meat. But I continued taking chicken for its protein value." Azhar has learnt this lesson of fitness as much from his own experience as from trainer Faiyaaz Ali Khan, who trains at Azhar's own gym . "He was my greatest strength during by dark period."

A healthy body, he agrees, gives you a cheerful temperament. A temperament that helped him sail through as captain and face the world stoically during his dark days. He adds, "I never had any ego hassles as a captain." During his tenure, there were three former captains in the team - Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar. Azhar says, "I would always look up to them. Whenever I was in need of advice, I had three captains to fall back on."

Now seen as a cricket expert on India TV and also a columnist, this cricketer just can't be patient with `paye' anymore. It gave him tough time, recalls Azhar who is "allergic to sea food". "Once I was forced to eat `paye' for dinner at a friend's place. It felt so heavy on my stomach that I fell asleep. Next morning too, I could barely open my eyes for a few minutes. Ab main `paye' nahi khata... " he concludes, laughing.

RANA SIDDIQUI

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