Former India captain Virat Kohli made his return to domestic red-ball cricket on Thursday (Jan 30) as it highlighted day 1 of the Ranji Trophy group stage contest. The day also saw Mumbai veteran Shardul Thakur take a hattrick while playing against Meghalaya. However, it was Virat who stole the show as fans thronged the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as Virat tries to find form before the Champions Trophy 2025.
Virat Kohli returns for Delhi
Playing in the Ranji Trophy after over a decade, Virat’s Delhi made a dominant start to the contest against Railways on Thursday. The visitors were 21/3 in the first hour of the opening session as Navdeep Saini (62/3) and Siddhant Sharma (35/2) dominated. Railways lost wickets at regular intervals as the home side asserted their dominance. Upendra Yadav starred with the bat for the visitors as he scored 95 before being scalped by Sumit Mathur on 95.
The wicketkeeper-batter was unfortunate to miss out on a ton before the tail was wrapped in the final session. Karn Sharma (50), Mohammad Saif (24) and Himanshu Sangwan (29) showed little resistance with the bat for the Railways before they were bowled out for 241.
Delhi were called into bat in the final session of the day, and they closed at 41/1 in 10 overs. Arpit Rana was dismissed for 10, while former India U-19 captain Yash Dhull (unbeaten 17) and Sanat Sangwan (unbeaten 9) are still in the middle. Virat is likely to come out to bat on Day 2 at number 4 on Friday as fans keep a close eye on him. Around 15,000 fans were present for the Ranji Trophy contest to witness the return of Virat Kohli at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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Shardul scalps hattrick
In another match, Shardul Thakur made headlines with a hattrick against Meghalaya for Mumbai. The veteran scalped four wickets as he and Mohit Avasthi demolished the opposition batting line-up as Meghalaya were bowled out for 86. Mumbai then came out to bat and closed the day on 213/2 with Siddhesh Lad (89) and Ajinkya Rahane (83) in the middle.