Follow UsThe Ranji Trophy 2024-25 fixture between Delhi and Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, starting on January 30 (Thursday), is garnering a lot of attention and it’s only because of one man - Virat Kohli. The Indian batting star is making his return to the Ranji Trophy after 12 years, but the match is unlikely to receive telecast or live-streaming coverage.
The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has already announced free tickets for spectators at the venue, but sadly, that will be the only way anyone will be able to watch Kohli live in action. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already allocated the three telecast slots to other marquee matches: Karnataka vs. Haryana, Bengal vs. Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir vs. Baroda.
"We don't know if BCCI will make any last-minute arrangements since Kohli is playing but we haven't been intimated anything about the broadcast of this game. Normally all big centres get one live game allotted (TV or streaming). We had a game against Tamil Nadu which was aired live. The roster for broadcast is set months in advance," a DDCA official in the know of things told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Adding more, a BCCI official said: "In the next round, the main match that will be televised as well as live-streamed is Karnataka versus Haryana at Chinnaswamy. Two more matches will be streamed. One of those is Bengal vs Punjab at Eden Gardens. There is a streaming of a third match but as of now it doesn't involve Delhi.”
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Rishabh Pant also played in Delhi’s last game but even that match wasn’t televised. However, Mumbai’s game against Jammu and Kashmir, featuring the likes of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur, was televised.
A report in PTI suggested that Mumbai's game against Jammu and Kashmir was always going to be telecasted live, and Rohit's appearance in the match was just a mere coincidence.
Kohli, who last played the prestigious first-class tournament in 2012, is in dire need of runs, having had below-average last five years in red-ball cricket. Before the three ODIs against England and the Champions Trophy in Dubai, this is an ideal opportunity for the 36-year-old to gain some confidence.
The man with more than 9000 Test runs under his belt, has so far played 23 Ranji Trophy games and scored 1574 runs at an average of 50.77. His last outing was against Uttar Pradesh at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad.
While Delhi are almost out of consideration for the knockout phase of Ranji Trophy 2024-25, they still have an outside chance if they win by bonus points against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi and certain results go their way.