Twelve years after he last featured in India’s premier domestic first-class tournament, Virat Kohli is set to return to the Ranji Trophy. Kohli confirmed his availability to play in Delhi’s last round of group-phase matches, against Railways, from January 30 to February 2. The development was confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by Delhi head coach Sarandeep Singh.
Kohli was a conspicuous absence in the penultimate round of group-phase matches, starting from January 23, when Delhi play Saurashtra in Rajkot. Both Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja confirmed they would play this match, but Kohli was ruled out after he informed the BCCI medical staff that he was still recovering from neck pain, for which he had taken an injection on January 8, three days after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended in Sydney. Several other India players will also feature in the January 23 round of games, including Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
