New Delhi: Virat Kohli’s first Ranji Trophy innings in 13 years lasted all of 15 balls, extending his lean run and fuelling the raging debate over his form.
For the 5000-odd crowd that assembled here to watch Kohli, it was fun while it lasted but when he had his off-stump rooted by Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan in the 28th over of Delhi’s first innings, a majority of them took no time to exit the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
The frequent chants of ‘RCB, RCB’ and ‘Kohli, Kohli’ dried up as the superstar took the long walk back to the dressing room, giving the railway employee Sangwan the most prized scalp of his career.
Ahead of first domestic red-ball appearance since November 2012, Kohli had trained with former India coach Sanjay Bangar to iron out flaws in his batting that crept up on the tour of Australia.
More specifically, it was the ball outside the off-stump that haunted the former India captain on the two-month long tour Down Under.
Kohli came out to bat to a loud reception following the leg before dismissal of Yash Dhull at about 10.30am local time, which was an hour into day’s play.
It was left-arm pacer Rahul Sharma that first got to bowl at the cricketing icon and with a spring in his stride, he bowled a yorker down the leg-side only to realise that he overstepped.
Considering the batter in front, Rahul went for that little extra in his following ball and it turned out to be another no ball.
In the next over bowled by medium pacer Kunal Yadav, Kohli tried to assert himself and played and missed twice to a ball pitched on his vulnerable zone — wide outside the off-stump.
After collecting two singles, Kohli decided to dominate the opposition — right-arm pacer Sangwan in this particular over.
Standing way outside the crease, Kohli disdainfully dispatched Sangwan towards the straight boundary.
It was still the first session and the ball was doing a bit but in his attempt to dominate Sangwan, the very next ball, Kohli went for an expansive drive off a good length delivery but missed it completely to see his off-stump shattered.
The ball seamed back in contributing to Kohli’s downfall.
He had a quick look at the surface before trudging back to the pavilion and with him his sea of fans headed towards the exit door. The fans will return for Kohli’s second essay which could be on day three.
Sangwan’s wild celebration was on expected lines. He had just taken the wicket of his life.
