Courtesy: Google

Courtesy: Google

Virat Kohli, the former India captain, has confirmed his availability to play for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 match versus Railways at a venue which is yet to be determined. With that, the 36-year-old Dehli-born cricketer is going to be playing his first match in Indian domestic cricket after 12 long years, with an aim to get into some batting form in the build-up to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which will be played in Pakistan and the UAE.

Notably, in the 2024-25 season, Virat Kohli has largely struggled to score runs consistently in Test format, notching up just one hundred and a fifty in 10 matches across varied conditions at home and away venues. During the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test series in Australia, Virat Kohli reportedly was suffering from a neck sprain, for which he took some injections to alleviate pain.

Virat Kohli was intially expected to play two Ranji Trophy 2024-25 group stage matches for Delhi

Ahead of the upcoming final two rounds of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25, many of the Indian senior players made themselves available for their respective state teams, and Virat Kohli was expected to be one of them. But, due to his speculated injury, the Indian cricketing stalwart won’t be playing for Delhi in their upcoming four-day clash against Saurashtra, which will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (SCA) in Rajkot from January 23 onwards.

Instead, Virat Kohli will be joining the Delhi squad for their final group stage match in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season against Railways, starting on January 30. Delhi are still in line to make the knockout round of the tournament if they are able to win their final two matches against Saurashtra and Railways, and their biggest player currently will return to play in the one of these, which will definitely bolster their chances to achieve at least one victory.