As Virat Kohli marked his return to the Ranji Trophy, another familiar face from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajat Bhatia, was sitting in the commentary box. The Delhi vs Railways clash in the Ranji Trophy also brought some interesting anecdotes from the past. Bhatia, who played against Kohli during his time with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL, brought about the famous 2013 on-field altercation between Gautam Gambhir, the then captain of the franchise, and Virat, the then skipper of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Bhatia joked about how people remember him for being the person who stopped the fight between the two, rather than his own performances on the cricket field.
“People know me largely because I stopped a fight between two people. They remember that about me, more than my performances. Now, one has a stand, the other has a pavilion (laughs),” Bhatia said on-air while commentating on Day 2 of the Delhi vs Railways match.
“There are small confrontations in every team. Even in Delhi’s Ranji team, there used to be. But you don’t have to continue that. Today, one is the head coach and the other is a key part of the team,” he said further.
Kohli’s first Ranji Trophy innings in 13 years lasted all off 15 balls, extending his lean run and fuelling the raging debate over his form.
Naak katwane main koi kasar nahi chhor rahe king kohli pic.twitter.com/bXgfv6clml
— Prayag (@theprayagtiwari) January 31, 2025
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.
With PTI Inputs
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