Virat Kohli is about to play a Ranji Trophy match after a gap of 12 years. The anticipation and build-up have been immense, but... is it fair to expect him to play in the tournament at all?
Sachin Tendulkar was an active Test cricketer when Kohli played his previous Ranji Trophy match, back in November 2012. Mind you, that was a one-off. His last appearance before that was in December 2010. For perspective, MS Dhoni was yet to hit Nuwan Kulasekara for that six, while Vaibhav Suryavanshi – Rajasthan Royals’ acquisition for the 2025 IPL – was not born.
Naturally, Kohli’s return to India’s premier domestic first-class competition led to last-minute across-sector adjustments. His practice session attracted fans. The official broadcasters were initially not supposed to live-stream the match, but they changed their plans. And so on.
Why is Kohli even playing in the Ranji Trophy?
In early 2024, the BCCI had insisted on contracted cricketers being available for domestic cricket. The Indian season opened with the Duleep Trophy – a quadrangular tournament featuring India’s best first-class cricketers.
While some Test cricketers played, Kohli was not part of the competition and neither was Test captain Rohit Sharma. “We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy,” explained Jay Shah, BCCI secretary at that point. “They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect.”
Fair enough. Rohit was 37 at that point and Kohli almost 36. While both had retired from T20Is after India’s long-awaited T20 World Cup triumph in June, they were still active in Tests, ODIs, and the IPL. The schedule was still hectic.
Kohli had opted out of the England series earlier that year, but had been India’s best batter on the tour of South Africa just before that. He was looking good. India were winning. So why bother?
