Virat Kohli arrives in Porsche for Ranji practice with Delhi team, has kadhi chawal for lunch

Public Lokpal
January 28, 2025

New Delhi: Star India batter Virat Kohli began training with the Delhi team in New Delhi on Tuesday ahead of his eagerly-awaited Ranji Trophy comeback after a 12-year gap.

The 36-year-old Kohli will be playing against Railways from January 30, marking his return to the premier domestic event where he last featured way back in 2012 in a game against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad.

He arrived at the Arun Jaitley Stadium sharp at 9 am this morning in his jet black Porsche, and after a team huddle and some warm-up exercises, proceeded to play football for about 15 minutes with his teammates.

He was at his home ground for around three hours and had everyone in his vicinity hypnotised. Whether the young impressionable players, or seasoned head coach Sarandeep Singh or batting coach Bantu Singh -- all of them evidently wanted to be close to him.

The superstar, who is navigating a slump in form, seemed relaxed in the company of his new teammates almost all of whom are sharing the dressing room with him for the first time and were visibly excited to have him among them.

The practice drill was being monitored by Delhi head coach Sarandeep Singh.

All star players, including ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma, have showed up for their Ranji teams after the disastrous Test tour of Australia recently.

This was owing to a BCCI diktat that players should prioritise domestic cricket whenever their international schedule allows them.

While Rohit (Mumbai) and Rishabh Pant (Delhi) did not have much success for their respective teams, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja starred with a 12-wicket haul for Saurashtra and Shubman Gill posted a hundred for Punjab, albeit in a losing cause.

Pant, Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai) will not be playing the upcoming Ranji matches as they gear up for the ODI series against England starting February 6 in Nagpur. KL Rahul will, however, turn up for Karnataka.

At the Arun Jaitely Stadium, though courteous with all, the former India skipper seemed more comfortable with his former U-19 coach Mahesh Bhati, who is also the administrative manager of this team.

As the anticipation around Kohli's Ranji comeback grows, Indian broadcasters have also decided to broadcast the star player's Ranji Trophy return live.

PTI