Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former India captain Virat Kohli has confirmed his availability for Delhi’s next Ranji Trophy match and will play against Railways in the clash that will be played from January 30 to February 2 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here. Kohli himself has been very keen to play this match, which he communicated to the DDCA on January 21 evening, sources said.
Kohli’s move was being keenly watched following the Indian team’s debacle in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia. Many experts including Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri have advised members of the Indian red-ball team to play domestic matches following the 1-3 defeat to Australia in the five-match series Down Under.
There has been a lot of pressure on the Indian red-ball team members to play domestic matches after the abject batting failure in Australia as the Indian team barely crossed 150 runs in its first innings in most of the Test matches. In five Tests, Kohli scored just 190 runs and was dismissed eight times chasing deliveries outside the off-stump.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja have confirmed their availability for the next round of Ranji Trophy matches starting on January 23, before some of them leave for the Champions Trophy in Dubai.
Earlier, Kohli had informed the BCCI’s medical team that he is dealing with an injury and will not be able to participate in the upcoming round of Ranji Trophy matches starting January 23. Kohli said he is suffering from neck pain, for which he received an injection on January 8, following the conclusion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney. Despite the treatment, he is still experiencing discomfort, which will rule him out of Delhi’s game against Saurashtra in Rajkot.
