Virat Kohli was given tough practice before his return to domestic cricket with a number of bouncers from Navdeep Saini and Siddhant Sharma. Kohli, back in Ranji cricket for the first time since 2012, hit the nets hard while being called on to face five bowlers-Money Grewal, Navdeep Saini, Rahul Gehlot, Siddhant Sharma, and Vivek Gusain-for 25 minutes. While he looked confident out there, the report said he was beaten a couple of times by Saini and Sharma.
Earlier Virat attacked with 3 spinners: Harsh Tyagi (left-arm), Sumit Mathur (left-arm), and Shivam (right-arm) for nearly half an hour.
An intense session for someone who had a terrible outing on the Australian tour and although he had very few issues, he was still hit badly by Tyagi’s brilliant spin twice.
Exactly at 9:00 when Venkat’s black Porsche roared into Feroz Shah Kotla ground through the ‘Virender Sehwag Gate’, Kohli, a true Delhi lad, returned after 12 long years to join his first-class team for practice.
Apart from indolent right-arm pacer Navdeep Saini, all the other 18 team members of the Delhi squad had only seen Kohli bask in the spotlight on television and grown up listening to legends of how ‘Cheeku’, the cherubic talent, ascended the ranks to rule over Indian cricket.
In the last 15 years, Delhi’s ‘Cheeku’ steadily faded into the background and subsequently turned into the most commercially viable brand in international cricket, the face that ICC sold while presenting their bid for the Olympics.
On Monday, he spent nearly three hours on his home ground, captivating everyone around him, from the young impressionable players to the seasoned head coach Sarandeep Singh and batting coach Bantu Singh-all of them wanting to be close to him.
While polite with all, he seemed to enjoy the greatest warmth and rapport with his old U-19 coach Mahesh Bhati, who is manager of this team.
“That has not changed. He did like his chhole-poori and we had arranged for it, but he said he didn’t want it,” said a senior DDCA official to PTI.
What he looked for post-practice ahead of his first Ranji appearance in 12 years, from January 30, was an old favorite.
“He had kadhi chawal with everyone after practice, like old times,” the official revealed.
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