Virat Kohli Participation In Ranji Trophy: After 12 years since his last Ranji Trophy appearance for Delhi, superstar Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is set to return to India’s premier domestic red-ball competition later this month.
Delhi head coach Sarandeep Singh confirmed Virat Kohli’s availability, to ESPNcricinfo, for Delhi’s last match of the group phase, which will be played against Railways from January 30 to February 2.
Latest Report on Virat Kohli Participation In Ranji Trophy
Kohli would miss Delhi’s upcoming Ranji match against Saurashtra in Rajkot, starting January 23, due to a reported neck pain. According to ESPNcricinfo, Kohli took an injection on January 8, three days after the Test series in Australia ended, and informed the BCCI of the neck pain.
Which Indian players will play in the Ranji Trophy?
Several other Indian Test players, including captain Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill, will feature in the January 23 round of games for their respective sides.
When did Virat Kohli play his last Ranji Trophy match?
Kohli’s last Ranji Trophy match was in November 2012 against UP. Since then, he’s become a regular feature in the Test XI and across the three formats. So he didn’t take part in domestic cricket, especially in red-ball matches.
But BCCI’s new policy—which made it mandatory for centrally contracted players to play in domestic cricket—has effectively pushed the players into making themselves available for the upcoming Ranji matches, despite many of them being selected for the ODIs against England and the following ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The ODI series against England will start on February 6, giving Kohli a gap of only three days after his Ranji match is scheduled to be completed. Kohli, who was the highest run-scorer in the World Cup 2023, would be a key player for India in the Champions Trophy.
Kohli recently had a lean patch during the Test season. Across 10 Tests against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Australia, Kohli averaged 22 with one fifty and one century to his name.
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