In a major turn of events, the Indian batting stalwart makes a much-awaited return to domestic cricket and is slated to play his first Ranji game since 2012. The 37-year-old will be seen in action against the Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on January 30. To get a glimpse of the living batting legend, fans in huge numbers are expected to flock in and with that in mind, the DDCA aims to increase the seating capacity to accommodate as many as 10,000 fans for free.  

See also: Watch: Virat Kohli practicing under former Indian coach before Ranji return

Kohli turns down calls for captaincy just like Pant

Soon after Kohli was officially named in the domestic Delhi squad, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) were keen to have him as the captain ahead of Delhi's upcoming Ranji clash with Railways on January 30. But as per growing reports, Kohli blatantly refused to lead the side like Rishabh Pant citing similar concerns that he isn’t well-versed with the players. Both Pant and Kohli are inadequately acquainted with the current set of Delhi cricketers and are not well aware of the inner workings of the team environment. 

The 25-year-old Ayush Badoni will lead the team which will have two Test players including King Kohli. Badoni has made 13 FC appearances for Delhi so far ever since his debut in 2023 and has scored a shade under 1000 runs at an average of 53.55 which includes his best score of 205*. In addition, Badoni is a part of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise and has featured in 42 IPL games for them scoring 634 runs at an average of nearly 25. 

So what's behind Kohli's sudden appearance in domestic cricket?

BCCI's recent mandate following the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy failure makes it compulsory for Indian players to regularly feature in domestic red-ball cricket if they desire to be selected in the national squad. But that is merely not the only reason why we see Kohli play in the Ranji Trophy. He is primarily participating in this game due to the strong interest of both the BCCI and its selectors are keen to see their starts perform actively in domestic cricket.

Sources claim that none of the top Indian cricketers got any such directive from the BCCI. If the cricketers have got such dos and don’ts from the media, it puts the Indian board in poor light.