Virat Kohli was named by the DDCA in their list of probable players for the upcoming Ranji Trophy tournament in the 2024-25 domestic cricket season. The list also includes other well-known players like Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini, Ayush Badoni, Anuj Rawat, and Yash Dhull. Pant recently played in the Duleep Trophy before the home series against Bangladesh. In the first Chennai Test against Bangladesh, Pant also scored a fantastic hundred and made a strong comeback to the Test team.
Virat last played in the Ranji trophy in November 2012 against Uttar Pradesh. He scored 14 and 42 runs in both innings and was dismissed by pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In 146 first-class matches, Virat has scored 11,120 runs at an average of 49.86. He has achieved 36 centuries and 38 fifties, with a best score of 254*.
The top red-ball cricket tournament in India, which has played a significant role in the development of many Indian cricketers, including Virat Kohli, will begin on October 11. On the same date, Delhi will play against Chhattisgarh in their Elite Plate Group D match.
This Ranji Trophy match on October 11 comes before the first Test between India and New Zealand in Bengaluru, starting on October 16. It could provide Virat Kohli with valuable game time in familiar conditions as he looks to regain form this year.
In both innings of the first Test against Bangladesh, Kohli delivered poor scores of 6 and 17.
Virat is having a poor run of form across all formats this year. In 15 matches and 17 innings this year, he has scored just 319 runs at a sub-par average of 18.76, with just one half-century to his name and a best score of 76 made during the T20 World Cup final against South Africa.
Now, in Tests, Virat's average is at an eight year low. In 114 Tests, he has scored 8,871 runs in 193 innings at an average of 48.74, with 29 centuries and 30 fifties. The last time his average was lower than this was during November 2016, when he averaged 48.28.
Delhi Probables List for the 2024/25 Ranji Trophy:
DDCA announced their Ranji Trophy Probables Today. The U23 teams will be selected from the below mentioned players only. Indian Test team members Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been included in the list of players as well, first time since 2019. pic.twitter.com/oiQ0ZGYCf3
— CricDomestic (@CricDomestic_) September 24, 2024
Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Himmat Singh, Pranshu Vijayran, Anirudh Chowdhary, Kshitiz Sharma, Vaibhav Kandpal, Siddhant Bansal, Samarth Seth, Jonty Sidhu, Siddhant Sharma, Tishant Dabla, Navdeep Saini, Harsh Tyagi, Lakshay Thareja (wk), Sumit Mathur, Shivank Vashisth, Salil Malhotra, Ayush Badoni, Gagan Vats, Rahul S Dagar, Hrithik Shokeen, Mayank Rawat, Anuj Rawat (wk), Simarjeet Singh, Shivam Kumar Tripathi, Kuldip Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Prince Choudhary, Shivam Kishore Kumar, Shivam Gupta (wk), Vaibhav Sharma, Jitesh Singh, Rohit Yadav, Sumit Kumar, Anmol Sharma, Keshav Dabas, Sanat Sangwan, Shubham Sharma (wk), Aryan Chaudhary, Aryan Rana, Bhagwan Singh, Saurav Dagar, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk).
Money Grewal, Kunwar Bidhuri, Nikhil Sangwan, Puneet Chahal, Priyansh Arya, Yash Dhull, Prince Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Arpit Rana, Divij Mehra, Sujal Singh, Hardik Sharma, Himanshu Chauhan, Ayush Doseja, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Dhruv Kaushik, Ankur Kaushik, Krish Yadav, Vansh Bedi, Yash Sehrawat, Vikas Solanki, Rajesh Sharma, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Rounak Waghela, Manpreet Singh, Rahul Gahlot, Aryan Sehrawat, Shivam Sharma, Siddharth Sharma, Parv Singla, Yogesh Singh, Deepesh Baliyan, Sagar Tanwar, Rishab Rana, Akhil Chaudhary, Digvesh Rathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Ajay Guliya
(With ANI Inputs)