Virat Kohli stops practice to reunite with old friend on Ranji Trophy return; his son clicks photo, gets poster signed

Virat Kohli's return to the Ranji Trophy after more than 12 years has turned Delhi's next fixture against Railways, starting January 30, into a festival. Two days before the much-anticipated match, on a chilly winter morning, Delhi's Arun Jaitely Stadium welcomed the main attraction—Kohli—of the festival with warmth and affection. A part of that festival was a kid named Kabir.

Wearing a red jacket and black pants, a starstruck Kabir, a fourth-standard student, watched Kohli warming up with only one hope: of meeting him. His dream soon turned into a reality when Kohli padded up for his first nets session at Kotla 1. Kabir must give some credit to his father, Shavez, though. Without him, it perhaps would not have been possible for him to get near Kohli, let alone have a chat and get a poster signed.

Shavez played age-group cricket with Kohli, and it was a sort of reunion for him. Kohli stopped practice and was seen chatting with Kabir for some time before signing the ‘Uncle Kohli’ poster he was carrying. Kabir also clicked a photo of Kohli and his father.

The 36-year-old Kohli will play against Railways on January 30, marking his return to the premier domestic event, where he last played in 2012 in a game against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad.

He arrived at the Arun Jaitley Stadium at 9 am this morning, and after a team huddle and some warm-up exercises, he played football for about 15 minutes with his teammates.

The superstar, who is navigating a slump in form, seemed relaxed in the company of his new teammates almost all of whom are sharing the dressing room with him for the first time and were visibly excited to have him among them.

The practice drill was being monitored by Delhi head coach Sarandeep Singh.

All star players, including ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma, have showed up for their Ranji teams after the disastrous Test tour of Australia recently.

This was owing to a BCCI diktat that players should prioritise domestic cricket whenever their international schedule allows them.

While Rohit (Mumbai) and Rishabh Pant (Delhi) did not have much success for their respective teams, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja starred with a 12-wicket haul for Saurashtra and Shubman Gill posted a hundred for Punjab, albeit in a losing cause.

Pant, Rohit, and Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai) will not play the upcoming Ranji matches as they gear up for the ODI series against England starting February 6 in Nagpur.

KL Rahul will, however, turn up for Karnataka.