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Star batter Virat Kohli on Tuesday checked in for a training session with his state team after more than 12 years. The former India captain will feature in Delhi Ranji Trophy return on January 30 as the home team takes on the Railways in their last group game. The 36-year-old will be playing his first Ranji match after more than 12 years, his last domestic cricket match was in Ranji Trophy in November 2012. Kohli stepped out from the stand named after him and bonded with his teammates over some football drills.
It was unusual scenes in the Delhi camp as the Indian Express reported that Tuesday's practice session was the longest that the senior team has spent to loosen up prior to a game.
The report added that the Delhi players were exhausted after the session, but not Kohli. He took a lap of the ground before heading back.
"A DDCA insider said the highlight of the two-and-half-hour Delhi's training session was that it was the longest these boys have trained before a Ranji game. He was true too after an exhausting session, most of the Delhi squad looked jarred but not Kohli, who signed off with a lap," the report claimed.
Kohli reportdly spent close to an hour at the nets. At first, he took throw-downs where he kept playing the pull shot.
Once he had done enough knocking, Kohli entered the spinners' nets where he faced left-arm spinners Harsh Tyagi and Sumit Mathur. A few balls did grip and stop but there wasn't much bite in their bowling.
Ditto for pacers Navdeep Saini, Money Grewal, Rahul Gehlot and Siddhant Sharma.
Unlike India nets, Kohli hardly looked troubled although he did practice leaving a lot of deliveries. With the Champions Trophy round the corner, Kohli was seen trying to play a lot beside the line of deliveries.