Follow UsEveryone is talking about Delhi’s next Ranji Trophy 2024-25 fixture against Railways, starting on January 30, and it’s largely because of one man - Virat Kohli. The Indian superstar, who last played the prestigious first-class tournament in 2012, turned up at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for a practice session on January 29 and caught everyone’s attention.
Kohli even made time for former Delhi cricketer Shawej Khan, with whom he played some junior cricket, and his son Kabir. The eight-year-old had a sketch of Kohli in his hands and asked him: 'Indian cricketer banne ke liye kya karna padega (what one needs to do to become an Indian cricketer)?'
To which, Kohli replied: "A lot of hard work humein karni padegi aur aapko practice aur training ke liye bolne ki zarurat nahi padni chahiye papa ko, haina? Khud se, subah uth ke mere ko jana hai practice karne, mere ko training karne jana hai. Aur agar koi ek ghanta practice karta hai toh aap do ghante practice karo.
"Ek hi tareeka hai bas, theek hai?
"Koi agar fifty banata hai, aap hundred banao. Koi hundred banata hai, aap two hundred banao. Jo benchmark hai, uss se double. Toh fir, level up, theek hai? Kabhi agar bolne ki zarurat pade toh that's not right. You should say 'I want to practice' and we should say 'no, you can rest one day', theek hai? Keep working hard and always enjoy playing.”
(English translation: "We need to do a lot of hard work, and your dad shouldn't be asking you to go for pratice and training. You yourself should wake up early and say 'I have to go for practice'. And if someone practices for one hour, you practice for two hours. That's the only way, right? If someone makes a fifty, you score a hundred. If someone makes a hundred, you score two hundred -- double of the benchmark. Then you will go a level up. If you need to be told to practice, then that's not right.")
WATCH: Virat Kohli trains with Delhi team ahead of Ranji Trophy return
Kohli 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.
(Image credit - Times of India)