“Virat Kohli Returns: Joins Delhi’s Ranji Squad Under 25-Year-Old Captain”
Virat Kohli got a reprieve against the 2025 Ranji Trophy but joined the Delhi team on the official tour, which will start from January 30, confirming his return to India’s domestic competition after a gap of 13 years.
However, the veteran Indian captain will not captain the team and will instead play in the 25-year-old Ayush Badoni’s nettv. Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who played the last match against Saurashtra, has not been included in the team.
Delhi Squad:
Ayush Badoni (captain), Virat Kohli, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk), Sanat Sangwan, Arpit Rana, Mayank Gusain, Shivam Sharma, Sumit Mathur, Vansh Bedi (wk), Money Grewal, Harsh Tyagi, Siddhant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dhull, Gagan Vats, Jonty Sidhu, Himmat Singh, Vaibhav Kandpal, Rahul Gehlot, Jitesh Singh.
Tilak Varma scored 72 runs in 55 balls for India in the second T20 match played at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai against England. During his stay at the crease on Saturday (January 25), the 22-year-old left handed bowler impressed with his matured form and hit four fours and five sixes. He adopted a defensive stand against England’s fast bowler Jofra Archer, who scored 60 runs in his four-over quota.
Speaking to reporters during the post-match press conference, Tilak said that he should play and plan to put pressure on any English bowler. Tilak said, “I wanted to target their best bowler. If you don’t call the best bowler, any bowler will come under pressure. So, when wickets are falling (at the other end), I want to get their best bowlers out.”
“If I do that, then yes (to get any bowler out) becomes easier. So, I backed myself and created chances against them, and whatever shots I have played against the bowlers, I have worked on them in the nets; mentally, I was ready for them. So, it has given me good results,” he said.
Tilak said that he was mentally prepared to stay till the end and was ready to change his game according to the team’s needs.
“I told (myself) that no matter what, I will stay till the end, and I wanted to finish the game. I had a chat with Gautam (Gambhir) sir during the last match. I can play with a strike rate of 6, 7 or even 10 depending on the requirement of the main team.
“Gautam sir said the same thing during the drinks break. Yes, there is a time when you can show people that you can play both the innings. Glad it worked out,” he said.
The Hyderabadi then elaborated on his game plan at the M.E. Chidambaram Stadium.
“The wicket was dual paced and quite challenging. With the kind of pace (England bowlers were bowling), except that the wicket would be difficult to hit.
“So, I just wanted to counter the pace and hit it as far behind (in the V behind the wicketkeeper) as possible. So, that’s what I did, and it worked out for me,” he said.
