India’s star batter Virat Kohli touches his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma’s feet during the felication ceremony at Arun Jaitley stadium after the second day of the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Railways on friday.
A video was posted on social media were he received a shawl and a special memento from DDCA president Rohan Jaitley. As Kohli was recognized for playing 100 Test matches for India, a milestone he reached against Sri Lanka in March 2022. Before Kohli showed respect to his childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, by touching his feet before sharing a warm hug.
Kohli is only the third cricketer from Delhi to have played 100 or more Tests for India, joining Ishant Sharma (105) and Virender Sehwag (104). This Ranji Trophy match marked Kohli’s first appearance in India’s domestic first-class competition in nearly 13 years, his last game being in November 2012.
However, Kohli’s return wasn’t memorable, as he was bowled out for just 6 runs off 15 balls by Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan. A crowd of around 5,000 had gathered to watch Kohli, cheering with chants of “RCB, RCB” and “Kohli, Kohli.” But as he walked back to the pavilion, the excitement faded, and many fans started leaving the stadium.
Before this match, Kohli trained with former India coach Sanjay Bangar to fix issues in his batting, particularly his struggles against balls outside the off-stump, which troubled him during the Australia tour.
Despite Kohli’s early dismissal, Delhi ended the day strongly at 334/7, leading Railways by 93 runs. Captain Ayush Badoni played a brilliant knock, missing his century by just one run (99), while Sumit Mathur remained unbeaten on 78.
