In the contemporary uproar of Arun Jaitley Stadium for Delhi vs Railways Ranji, Virat Kohli produced yet another miserable chapter of red-ball cricket. Having just punched his first boundary of the innings against Railways on Day 2 of the group game into the ground, he was unable to discern between a delivery from Himanshu Sangwan that swung in aggressively and left him with his off-stump cartwheeled. He got a little more confident and hit a lovely straight drive for the boundary. But the next delivery made the crowd hop onto the candidate list for the rambling for the season.
The crowd, which was buzzing for every single delivery that Virat faced, could barely muster a word when the great Indian walked back after scoring a mere 6 runs from 15 balls.
Sangwan’s celebration of Virat’s wicket also confirmed the pivotal nature of the wicket for the Railways bowler.
Anticipation filled the stadium on Day 2 before the start of the match, with fans waiting eagerly on the chance to see a Delhi wicket fall; they were so eager to see their idol bat.
For domestic cricket, the crowd on Day 1 made an exotic sight that in all probability would not have happened for a domestic cricket match– in the stands there were expectant fans yearning to see their star, whose last few performances have not been impressive. Additional gates were opened for the fans, and extra security was deployed.
It has been said that more than 15,000 fans showed up for the opening day of the match.
During the Group D clash, a fan broke through tight security to run onto the field and meet Virat Kohli. While Delhi’s opening bowlers, Navdeep Saini and Siddhant Sharma, had Railways in trouble at 21/3, the fan breached security lines and reach Kohli; he touched his feet as a mark of respect.
Security forces came in and quickly escorted the intruder out of the field. Kohli also told the security guys to take pity on the fan and asked not to cause him undue pain.
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