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regular-article-logo Wednesday, 26 February 2025

'Fantasy' cricket on domestic pitch as superstar Virat Kohli returns to Ranji Trophy

Fans lined up since 4 in the morning to dash for the stands once the gates opened around 8am, with no tickets on sale, spectators only had to display their Aadhaar card to gain entry

Our Bureau Published 31.01.25, 12:03 PM
Spectators fill the Gautam Gambhir Stand at the Kotla on Thursday, in a picture shared on X, during Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Railways. Virat Kohli is playing the match, his first domestic game since 2012; (inset) Virat Kohli on Thursday

Spectators fill the Gautam Gambhir Stand at the Kotla on Thursday, in a picture shared on X, during Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Railways. Virat Kohli is playing the match, his first domestic game since 2012; (inset) Virat Kohli on Thursday

Virat Kohli didn’t get a chance to bat on Thursday but it couldn’t diminish the enthusiasm of the thousands who made it to the Kotla in Delhi to witness their superstar return to Ranji Trophy action after more than 12 years.

Fans lined up since 4 in the morning to dash for the stands once the gates opened around 8am. With no tickets on sale, spectators only had to display their Aadhaar card to gain entry.

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Thunderous chants of “Kohli, Kohli” reverberated across the stadium, creating a surreal scene rarely witnessed in domestic cricket. His mere presence was enough for a mundane domestic match to create a gigantic frenzy as more than 15,000 gathered at the 45,000-capacity stadium.

It had been earlier decided to open the 6,000-capacity ‘Gautam Gambhir Stand’ for spectators, but sensing that the situation could go out of hand — after fans broke the barricades — the officials were forced to also throw open the ‘Bishan Singh Bedi Stand’ which could accommodate around 11,000 people.

There was no respite for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials from the madness that engulfed the whole stadium premises even as Delhi chose to bowl first. The crowd erupted once they spotted Kohli during the warm-ups and the stadium shouted in delirium.

Former India opener WV Raman, doing commentary for Jio Cinema, compared Kohli’s fan following to Sachin Tendulkar. “It is at par, isn’t it? I don’t know when I last saw so many people watching a Ranji Trophy match,” he said.

The excitement reached its peak when an overzealous fan breached security, sprinted onto the field, and touched Kohli’s feet. The incident occurred in the 12th over when Kohli was stationed at second slip. The security personnel rushed in to evict the man though Kohli tried to convince the security personnel to let him off without
any punishment.

Kohli too did not forget to acknowledge the crowd every now and then with a wave of his hand when he fielded near the boundary ropes, acknowledging the people’s sentiments who were there only to catch a glimpse of him.

The last time a domestic match evoked such a response was when Tendulkar played his final first-class game for Mumbai in 2013 at Lahli in Haryana. That stadium, which did not have proper stands for spectators, witnessed a turnout of about 8,000, a massive number for the venue.

What added to the commotion at the Kotla was the VVIP movement past the ground at the same time.

Police even resorted to lathi-charge to control the crowd at one stage. “There was a rush at the time of entry as only one gate was being used by DDCA,” Delhi Police said in a statement. “No report of any injuries. The situation is normal,” the statement added.

Among those who turned up to witness the spectacle were Kohli’s brother, Vikas, his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma and DDCA president Rohan Jaitley.

A young man, who was screaming Kohli’s name while entering the stadium, said he was there to watch him get back in form after a disappointing run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

“He should get a hundred, else the fans would be very disappointed. Everyone is here to watch only him,” he said.

Soon Kohli’s lunch menu went viral on social media after the DDCA canteen in-charge went on record saying that the former India captain had ordered chilli paneer.

He relished chilli chicken in his early playing days but has since turned vegan.

Kohli’s Delhi teammate Navdeep Saini was convinced that this was not going to be just another first-class match when he saw the long queue of spectators lining up long before the start.

For most of the team’s young players who have grown up idolising Kohli and watching his exploits on TV, sharing space with the maestro was a “different thing” altogether.

“His energy is so high, automatically our energy level also goes up with him around. Then his effort, whenever he is batting, fielding or in the gym, his intensity, it is always 110 per cent,” Saini said at the end of the first day’s play.

“As we were coming in the morning we saw the long line and realised that this is going to be different...The fans would just pour in.”

Delhi were 41/1 at stumps in reply to Railways’ 241 and Kohli is expected to bat on Friday. Expect the frenzy to touch the sky.

Written with inputs from PTI

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