Virat Kohli will play in Ranji Trophy after 13 years. He has confirmed to play in the match between Delhi and Railways on January 30.
Delhi coach Sarandeep Singh said that Virat Kohli has told Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley and the team management that he will be available for the match against Railways. However, he will not play in the match against Saurashtra on January 23.
Delhi's two matches, Virat will not play the first match Virat Kohli has informed the BCCI medical team that he has neck pain. He is taking an injection. Once fit, he will be available from the second match.
The last match was played in 2012 Virat played his last Ranji Trophy match in 2012 against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad. Recently DDCA also included Virat's name in the 22-member preliminary squad. Along with Virat, Rishabh Pant was also included in the team. Pant will join the team for the match against Saurashtra on Tuesday (January 21).
Rohit-Jadeja are also playing Ranji with their respective teams After the Champions Trophy squad was announced on Saturday (January 18), Indian captain Rohit Sharma confirmed his availability for Mumbai's match against Jammu and Kashmir at home ground. Other Indian stars including Shubman Gill, Yashaswi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja will also be seen in the next round of Ranji Trophy for their respective teams.
Understand in 3 points why Virat agreed to play Ranji Trophy
- Bad batting against New Zealand and Australia: Virat Kohli was 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 match series against New Zealand, he could score only 93 runs at an average of 15.50. In both these series, Virat is often caught out on balls going outside the off stump. Many veteran batsmen have advised him to play Ranji Trophy.
- 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.
- Last week, the BCCI reviewed the performance of the Indian team at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the performance in the home series against New Zealand and the tour of 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.
Bhaskar said – DDCA officials were hesitant to ask questions to Virat Bhaskar, quoting sources, had informed on January 16 that Virat Kohli would not be available for the match against Saurashtra but for the match against Railways to be held from January 30.
Virat Kohli did not inform the DDCA official about his availability to play the match against Saurashtra. Sources told Bhaskar that since Virat is a big player, DDCA officials are not daring to ask him questions about playing with him. DDCA president Rohan Jaitley will talk to Virat so that Kohli can play against Railways in the Ranji match from January 30. …
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).