DDCA (Delhi District Cricket Association) officials cannot dare to ask Kohli whether Virat Kohli will play in Ranji Trophy or not. Kohli's name is among the possible players for the Delhi Ranji squad, but he has not played domestic cricket for the past 13 years.
In such a situation, DDCA officials are waiting for confirmation from President Rohan Jaitley and Kohli's coach Rajkumar Sharma.
In fact, after the crushing Test series defeats against New Zealand and Australia, Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir advised the star players to play domestic cricket. After this, many star players of Team India including wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, opener Yashshwi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are all set to play in the Ranji Trophy. Captain Rohit Sharma is also practicing with the Ranji team.
The Delhi team has been touting Kohli as a potential player since 2012, but his wait in the dressing room is far from over.
A senior DDCA official said Bhaskar told-
The question of Virat not playing Ranji is far-fetched. The biggest question now is who will ask Virat Kohli whether he will play or not.
A source said that Kohli's coach Rajkumar Sharma is currently out and is awaiting his return. After his return he will contact Kohli and let him know what his answer is. Virat Kohli is currently in Mumbai.
Rajkumar Sharma is Virat Kohli's childhood coach. He posted this photo with Kohli during the T20 World Cup 2024.
Virat can play against Railways from January 30 Sources say that if Virat is ready to play for the Delhi team, then he can be seen playing for Delhi in the match against Railways from January 30. The venue of this match has not been decided yet.
Understand in 3 points, why the speculation of Virat playing Ranji?
- Bad batting against New Zealand and Australia Virat Kohli has been a flop against Australia and New Zealand. He scored 190 runs at an average of 23.75 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While in the 3 Test series against New Zealand, he could score only 93 runs at an average of 15.50. In both these series, Virat is often caught outside the off-stump. Many veteran batsmen have advised him to play Ranji Trophy.
- Head coach Gautam Gambhir said- Senior players should play Ranji After the BGT loss, Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir said that the senior players of the Indian team have to play Ranji and other domestic matches from time to time to improve their batting skills.
- Domestic play was made mandatory in the review meeting Last week the BCCI reviewed the performance of the Indian team at the BCCI head quarters in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the team's performance in the home series against New Zealand and the tour to Australia was reviewed. During the meeting, the board members emphasized on senior players playing domestic cricket. Also it was made mandatory for the players to play Ranji.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).