Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
'Virat Kohli doesn't need Ranji. Leave him alone': Ambati Rayudu demands 'respect' for India great amid rough patch
Former Indian batter Ambati Rayudu came to Virat Kohli's defence following a quiet showing for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy.
Virat Kohli’s much-awaited return to Ranji Trophy cricket with Delhi was somewhat anti-climactic, as he was only able to register 6 runs in a 15-delivery innings when he came to the crease at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Kohli was one of those mandated to return and play domestic cricket, but his wicket at the hands of Railways’ Himanshu Sangwan just placed more pressure when expectations were high. However, one of Kohli’s former teammates came to his defence, with Ambati Rayudu backing up his former Indian captain on social media.
Posting on X, Rayudu wrote: “Right now Virat Kohli (doesn’t) need Ranji. His technique was good for 81 hundreds (and) it will be good going forward as well.”
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy heaped pressure on Kohli, as he fell in a repetitive fashion to outside edges against seamers despite a century in the first match in Perth. This led to several questions about his standing in Test cricket, with him getting bowled clean through the gate against Railways not helping matters.
‘The spark within will ignite on its own…’
Nonetheless, Rayudu believed that Kohli needed to find his form of old on his own terms, without external pressure dictating his process.
“No one (should) force him into forcing himself for anything,” wrote the batter. “He needs time to feel good about everything again. The spark within will ignite on its own. Basically respect (and) believe in him, most importantly leave him alone.”
Kohli’s failure with the bat nonetheless didn’t impact Delhi too negatively, who rode the energy from a fervent Kohli-crazy crowd showing up in numbers at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to produce a fine performance in their contest against Railways. The bowlers, including Navdeep Saini, bowled the opposition out cheaply, before strong innings from Ayush Badoni and Sumit Mathur helped Delhi take a first innings lead.
It took Delhi just over a session’s play to then dismiss Railways in the third innings, with Shivam Sharma’s five-fer sealing the deal as Delhi won by an innings and 19 runs. Kohli remained the focus of attention before and after the match, being commemorated by the DDCA for representing India over 100 times in Test cricket.
Kohli will next be in action for India’s upcoming ODI series against England, beginning on February 3 in Nagpur.
