A heartwarming moment occurred on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 match between Delhi and Railways at Arun Jaitley Stadium. As Delhi celebrated the fall of Railways' fourth wicket, one of Kohli's teammates ran toward the veteran batter and touched his feet in a gesture of respect. The emotional gesture, which was caught on camera, has quickly gone viral on social media.
Virat Kohli’s return to domestic cricket for the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 has captured the attention of over 15,000 fans at Stadium in Delhi. Kohli's presence has also energized his Delhi teammates, who have been playing with high intensity.
Kohli made himself available for the first-class fixture after struggling during India's recent five-Test tour of Australia. He scored 190 runs in the series, averaging 23.75, with one century. Kohli will look to get some runs under his belt ahead of India’s five-Test tour of England later this year.
Kohli’s last appearance in the Ranji Trophy came in November 2012, when Delhi faced Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad. In that match, Kohli came to bat after Delhi had lost two quick wickets. He scored 14 runs in the first innings before being dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In the second innings, Kohli added 43 runs before Bhuvneshwar dismissed him again. Delhi went on to lose the match by six wickets. After 12 years, Kohli is hoping to make his return to the Ranji Trophy memorable with a strong performance.
Kohli will next return to international cricket in the ODI series against England, starting on February 6 in Nagpur. The series will serve as preparation for the Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19. India aims for its third Champions Trophy title after winning in 2002 and 2013. India finished as runners-up to Pakistan in the 2017 edition.
In the ongoing match, Delhi won the toss and elected to field first.
Delhi (Playing XI): Arpit Rana, Sanat Sangwan, Virat Kohli, Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni(c), Pranav Rajuvanshi(w), Sumit Mathur, Shivam Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Money Grewal, Siddhant Sharma
Railways (Playing XI): Anchit Yadav, Vivek Singh, Suraj Ahuja(c), Upendra Yadav(w), Mohammad Saif, Bhargav Merai, Karn Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Himanshu Sangwan, Ayan Chaudhari, Kunal Yadav