The excitement around star batter Virat Kohli’s return to domestic cricket lasted a mere 15 deliveries as the former India captain was dismissed for a forgettable 6, with Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan sending his stump cartwheeling early in the innings.
Delhi, having elected to field on winning the toss on Thursday, saw Kohli in high spirits, acknowledging the sea of supporters while fielding. His turn to bat came on Day 2 when Yash Dhull fell to Rahul Sharma in the 24th over, triggering thunderous cheers as the former India captain made his way to the middle.
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Despite getting off the mark on the fourth delivery by guiding Kunal Yadav’s delivery into the cover region, his discomfort against the moving ball continued to affect him as he attempted to counter the swing and seam of the Railways attack. His struggles outside the off-stump, reminiscent of past woes against Australia, resurfaced as he tentatively poked at deliveries.
However, during the 28th over of Delhi’s innings, the 36-year-old showed glimpses of his masterclass by driving a delivery straight down the ground for four. But the joy was short-lived as Sangwan’s inswinging delivery breached a sizeable gap between Kohli’s bat and pad, sending the off-stump cartwheeling.
The stadium, which had erupted with chants of Kohli..Kohli… upon his arrival, fell into stunned silence on his dismissal, and it was immediately followed by fans leaving the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
While Delhi will have another innings in the match, and so does Kohli, it will be interesting to see if the crowd exceeding 10,000 that had gathered in the first essay will be back in anticipation of the iconic batter getting a bigger score.
Despite Kohli’s early dismissal, Delhi, battling for a last-gasp attempt at qualification in the final round of the Ranji Trophy group stage, ended the second day with a healthy 92-run lead, thanks to skipper Ayush Badoni’s 99 and Sumit Mathur’s watchful unbeaten 78.
Elsewhere, both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane fell in their 90s as well, while Mumbai piled on the runs and Kerala sealed their progress to the next round with a resounding victory.
