Mohammed Kaif played against Virat Kohli during his last Ranji appearance in 2012.© PTI
Star batter Virat Kohli is playing his first Ranji Trophy match in over 12 years with Delhi currently taking on Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Many fans had arrived at the venue in the early hours, hoping to secure the best possible view of the former India captain. Kohli’s last appearance in the tournament came against Uttar Pradesh in 2012, a match that Delhi lost by six runs in Ghaziabad. Former India batter Mohammed Kaif, who played in that game, recalled the contest ahead of Kohli’s return.
Kaif suggested Kohli has the weakness he showed during that game against UP, getting caught while poking the ball outside the off-stump. For the unversed, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Kohli on both the ocassions in that match. Kohli was caught behind eight out of nine times in the series against Australia.
“The game had all the big stars playing. For Uttar Pradesh, there was Suresh Raina, Kaif, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar. Talking about Delhi, they had Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma. I felt it was a testing time and I should stay alert as Kohli will nick one soon, and it happened when he went for a drive. I could not believe that our match against Delhi in 2012 was Kohli’s last Ranji Trophy match. The weakness he had earlier is still there. The way Bhuvneshwar Kumar got him out twice, I cannot believe that the same weakness is still there. The way he was getting out in Australia, he got out in the same way in that Ranji match,” Kaif said in a video posted on X.
Kaif, however, lauded Kohli for his achievements and hoped that he can regain his purple patch during the upcoming Champions Trophy.
“Despite having weakness against outside-off-stump balls due to his tight bottom hand, the stature he has achieved is commendable. He has 50 centuries in ODI cricket. Virat Kohli will get some practice (on his Ranji Trophy return); and if he scores runs and gets back to form, it will benefit India a lot. So we pray that he does well and spends some time at the crease. We hope he gets the kind of success he got in the 2023 ODI World Cup (scored 765 runs) in the 2025 Champions Trophy as well,” he added.
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