Table of Contents
4440 days!! That’s how long it’s been since Virat Kohli donned the Delhi colours in the Ranji Trophy. The promising batter cut his 24th birthday cake on the final day of that game in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh vs Delhi) back then.
Sachin Tendulkar was still an active international cricketer at that time while Narendra Modi was still Gujarat’s Chief Minister. The then-young India star had played just 116 international matches, out of which 90 were ODIs. His Test debut had come just a year and a half before that. All he had were a little over 5000 international runs along with 15 hundreds.
More than 12 years since that game and with 22,000 more runs along with 66 further centuries in international cricket in the bag, Kohli is back representing his state side. He will be playing a domestic game on the ground, where a pavilion will be named after him.
His return to Ranji Trophy is on the back of BCCI’s mandate which requires every national cricketer to feature in domestic cricket in between international commitments unless there is an injury. That prompted the likes of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and many others to turn up for their respective domestic teams in the previous round of the Ranji Trophy which started on the 23rd of January.
Kohli missed Delhi’s last game due to a neck sprain. But a week ago, he confirmed his availability for Delhi’s last round of the Ranji Trophy. From that point on, there was a big buzz around his comeback. The 36-year-old’s preparation started in Mumbai where he worked with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar before he flew to Delhi to join the rest of the squad.
Once he joined the team, people followed him to the ‘T’. Every movement of his on the ground during Delhi’s training and practice sessions was tracked like it was a significant event. There were multiple journalists and media personnel on the ground for these sessions as well. His batting stint in the nets, warm-ups, what he was eating, which car he came to the ground in, who is he talking to and every little thing was being covered.
The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) even made special arrangements to host in excess of 10,000 fans at the Kotla. They are even prepared to open up more stands if the crowd increases.
Such was the craze that the BCCI had not initially planned to telecast the game live. However, with Kohli’s presence, the decision was reversed and it was announced that JioCinema would broadcast the game between Delhi and Railways. The aura around him was simply insane.
Crowd starts building up from 5 AM; More than 15,000 turn up at the Kotla
Domestic cricket seldom gets so much attention. While the previous round did attract quite a few eyeballs with most of the big Indian stars turning up, but this game between Delhi and Railways at the Kotla was taken to another level.
With Kohli returning to the Ranji Trophy after more than 12 years, the fans seemed to have gone bonkers. Come the game day, the hype was unreal with fans flogging the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi from as early as 5 AM. The anticipation and excitement was evident with fans just wanting to get a glimpse of Kohli.
Once the game started, the stands which were open to public filled up very quickly. The crowd erupted every time Kohli turned towards them. The former India captain constantly waved to them while standing in the slips.
A fan breaches security to touch Kohli’s feat
In fact, a fan even broke through the gates and security to enter the ground. He ran towards Kohli and fell to the great batter’s feet. He was pulled up by the security but Kohli was seen asking the authorities to go easy on the fan.
Kohli looks to regain form ahead of Champions Trophy 2025
While all the attention has been on Kohli’s Ranji comeback and the fan following, his form in the recent past hasn’t been the best. His overall numbers in international cricket were poor in 2024. While his struggles in Test cricket are well-highlighted, he didn’t really set the stage on fire in the white-ball formats either last year.
Since the start of 2024, Kohli has played 34 innings across formats and has got just one hundred and two fifties. He has gone past the 25-run mark only nine times. His Test numbers read 440 runs at an average of 23.15 in this period while he has 58 runs from three ODIs and 180 runs in 10 T20Is.
Hence, even though it is a different format, the Delhi-born cricketer will be eyeing some fluency ahead of the ODI series against England and the all-important Champions Trophy.
Kohli spent a long-time batting in the nets in the lead-up to the Ranji game against Railways. He was seen working on his backfoot play, something which he has lacked in the last few years and has allowed bowlers to gain an upper hand, especially in Test cricket. He even faced spinners quite a bit.
Delhi are bowling first and have already made inroads (Railways were 87/5 at lunch). The 15,000+ fans present at the Kotla will be eagerly waiting to watch their hero bat.
