The Indian star cricketer Virat Kohli has made his Ranji Trophy comeback after more than 12 years for Delhi on January 30, Thursday. Delhi won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Arun Jaitely Stadium. A lot of crowd was seen outside the stadium to see a glimpse of their favorite player, Kohli. He will be coming to bat at No. 4 against Railways in the game.
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif was surprised by a fact that Kohli still has the same weakness that he showed during his last Ranji game. In November 2012, Delhi played against Uttar Pradesh. Kohli got dismissed on 14 and 43 runs in two innings, dismissed caught behind by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He stated that the similar thing was seen in the tour of Australia; he was seen disturbing while playing against the outside off-stump ball, and that was the reason for his dismissal in the whole series.
In a video shared by Kaif on social media, he recalled the match said,
"The game had all the big stars playing. For Uttar Pradesh, there were Suresh Raina, Kaif, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Praveen Kumar. Talking about Delhi, they had Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, and Ishant Sharma."
"I felt it was a testing time, and I should stay alert as Kohli would nick one soon, and it happened when he went for a drive."
Kaif also said that the weakness Kohli had in 2012 still emerges as a problem for him. The way he got dismissed in Australia was the same way he got out in that Ranji match twice by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
"I could not believe that our match against Delhi in 2012 was Kohli's last Ranji Trophy match. The weakness he had earlier is still there. The way Bhuvneshwar Kumar got him out twice, I cannot believe that the same weakness is still there. The way he was getting out there in Australia, he got out in the same way in that Ranji match."
The former Indian cricketer praises Kohli for his achievements in his career despite weaknesses against outside-off-stump balls.
"Despite having a weakness against outside-off-stump balls due to his tight bottom hand, the stature he has achieved is commendable. He has 50 centuries in ODI cricket."
"Virat Kohli will get some practice (on his Ranji Trophy return), and if he scores runs and gets back to form, it will benefit India a lot. So we pray that he does well and spends some time at the crease. We hope he gets the kind of success he got in the 2023 ODI World Cup (scored 765 runs) in the 2025 Champions Trophy as well."
Kohli will be donning the blue jersey in the upcoming big assignment that will be the ICC Champions Trophy, which will kick off from February 19.