Virat Kohli last played a Ranji Trophy game in 2012.
Virat Kohli’s weakness outside off-stump has led to his downfall and poor form off late in Test cricket. Kohli scored just 90-odd runs in the three-Test series against New Zealand at home.
Then against Australia in BGT 2024-25, Kohli started well by scoring 100* in the first Test in Perth. But then aggregated just 190 runs in 9 innings of the five-match Test series.
During his dismissals in Australia, it was a similar mode of getting out that chased Kohli throughout the tour of Australia, where he was caught while poking at balls well outside his off-stump.
Currently, Virat Kohli is playing for Delhi in their ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 match against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. It is crucial for Virat Kohli to score runs, as this is seen as a batting practice for Kohli before the England ODIs and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif spoke about Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji Trophy and he said that he was surprised to see that Kohli still has the same weakness he showed during his last Ranji appearance in 2012, which had Kaif in the opposition.
In November 2012, Delhi faced hosts Uttar Pradesh at Ghaziabad, and Kohli was dismissed for 14 and 43 in the two innings, both times caught behind the wicket by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
As he prepares to take a fresh approach to his Ranji Trophy comeback, hoping to iron out the imperfections that have crept into his game after his illustrious career, Kaif recalled the events of the match 12 seasons ago.
"The game had all the big stars playing. For Uttar Pradesh, there was Suresh Raina, Kaif, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Praveen Kumar. Talking about Delhi, they had Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, and Ishant Sharma. I felt it was a testing time and I should stay alert as Kohli will nick one soon, and it happened when he went for a drive,” Kaif said in a video on X.
Kaif expressed disbelief that it took Kohli more than 12 years to play another Ranji match.
"I could not believe that our match against Delhi in 2012 was Kohli's last Ranji Trophy match. The weakness he had earlier is still there. The way Bhuvneshwar Kumar got him out twice, I cannot believe that the same weakness is still there. The way he was getting out in Australia, he got out in the same way in that Ranji match," said Kaif.
Kaif praised Kohli for his accomplishments since that day, despite the weakness that has persisted. The former India batsman felt Kohli would be able to learn from his mistakes and make amends for another productive run in the last stretch of his career.
"Despite having weakness against outside-off-stump balls due to his tight bottom hand, the stature he has achieved is commendable. He has 50 centuries in ODI cricket. Virat Kohli will get some practice (on his Ranji Trophy return); and if he scores runs and gets back to form, it will benefit India a lot. So we pray that he does well and spends some time at the crease. We hope he gets the kind of success he got in the 2023 ODI World Cup (scored 765 runs) in the 2025 Champions Trophy as well," Kaif concluded.