Indian cricket team star batter Virat Kohli was troubled a couple of times by pacers Navdeep Saini and Siddhant Sharma during practice ahead of his return to domestic cricket, according to a report. Kohli, who will be playing his first Ranji match since 2012, practiced hard in the nets as he faced five bowlers – Money Grewal, Navdeep Saini, Rahul Gehlot, Siddhant Sharma, Vivek Gusain – in a 25-minute session, The report claimed that he looked confident but was beaten a few times by Saini and Sharma.
Earlier, Virat spent almost half an hour facing 3 spinners – Harsh Tyagi (left-arm), Sumit Mathur (left-arm), and Shivam (right-arm).
It was an ‘intense’ practice session for the star who did not have a good outing in Australia and although he did not face much issues, Virat was beaten twice by Tyagi’s sharp spin.
At exactly 9am when his jet black Porsche zoomed in through the Feroz Shah Kotla ground’s ‘Virender Sehwag Gate’, it was homecoming for Delhi’s very own Virat Kohli, who checked in for a training stint with his first-class team after more than 12 years.
Save for pacer Navdeep Saini, all other 18 members of Delhi’s squad had only seen him on TV and grown up listening to the tales of how ‘Cheeku’, the cherubic talent, became the ‘King’ of Indian cricket.
In the last 15 years, Delhi’s ‘Cheeku’ became a hazy memory as he turned into the most commercially viable brand in global cricket, the face that ICC sold in its Olympic bid presentation.
On Monday, he was at his home ground for around three hours and had everyone in his vicinity hypnotised. Whether the young impressionable players, or seasoned head coach Sarandeep Singh or batting coach Bantu Singh — all of them evidently wanted to be close to him.
Though courteous with all, the former India skipper seemed more comfortable with his former U-19 coach Mahesh Bhati, who is also the administrative manager of this team.
“Woh badlaa nahi hain. Usko chhole-poori pasand the aur humne mangaake rakhha thaa. Usne bola chole puri nahi khawoonga (He loves chhole poori, we made arrangements for him but he said he didn’t want it),” a senior DDCA (Delhi and Districts Cricket Association) official told PTI.
What he did seek out after practice ahead of his first Ranji appearance in 12 years from January 30 was also an old favourite.
“Practice ke baad purane time ki tarah kadhi chawal khaya sabke saath (He had kadhi chawal with everyone),” revealed the official.
(With PTI inputs)
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