It took the former Indian Test captain, Virat Kohli, nearly twelve years to mark his return for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy for 2024-25 since he last featured in the competition in their last group-stage matches against Railways, from January 30 to February 02. The development has been confirmed by the reports of ESPNcricinfo, as the head coach Sarandeep Singh, confirmed.
Virat Kohli’s form has dropped terribly in the last few months. The right-handed batter struggled against New Zealand’s spinners at home, gaining just 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50, celebrating just one half-century that came during the second innings of the series opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The Delhi-born smashed an unbeaten knock of 100 runs in the second innings of the series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 but could only add 91 runs in the rest eight innings in his potential last trip to Australia.
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Virat Kohli was a conspicuous absence in the squad for the penultimate round of the group stage of the tournament, starting from January 23, where Delhi would face Saurashtra in Rajkot. Both Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja confirmed that they would feature in the fixture for their respective sides.
Virat Kohli to face Railways in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 on January 30
The 36-year-old was ruled out after he informed the BCCI medical staff that he would still be recovering from neck pain, for which he took an injection on January 08, at the end of the BGT 2024-25, in Sydney. Several other Indian players will also feature in the January 23 round of games, including their captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
A review meeting was held last week in Mumbai in the presence of captain Rohit Sharma, chief selector Ajit Agarkar, and head coach Gautam Gambhir, where they discussed their poor Test results in the last few months. One of the significant decisions to come out was the requirement for the players to play domestic cricket for selection in the national squad.
The last first-class game for Virat Kohli was in 2012 when he faced Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad. At number four, the batter smacked 14 runs in 19 balls with the help of two boundaries before following it up with a 43-run knock in 65 balls, shouldering on seven boundaries at the strike rate of 66.15.
The veteran has smashed 9230 runs so far in the longest format in 120 innings at an average of 46.85 with a strike rate of 55.57, shouldering on 31 half-centuries and 30 centuries at the best score of unbeaten 254 runs.
Before the confirmation of Virat Kohli’s availability on January 30 against Railways, Rohit also confirmed that he would feature against Jammu and Kashmir alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in Mumbai’s next Ranji Trophy game.
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It has not been confirmed if Kohli had communicated with Agarkar and the Indian team management about him playing the January 30 round of the Ranji games. If that match goes to the distance, then it would finish on February 02, which would provide just three days to recover before the ODI series opener against England, as the preparation for the Champions Trophy 2025.
Virat Kohli will look to gain some vital confidence from the Ranji encounter before they turn up for the England series and the ICC event, where their first game will be on February 20 against Bangladesh.