The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) planned to let in about 10,000 fans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for Delhi’s last group game in the Ranji Trophy against Railways. However, when Virat Kohli returned to play domestic cricket after 12 years, the interest skyrocketed. The DDCA first opened the ‘Gautam Gambhir Stand’ with 6,000 seats, but due to a huge crowd that started lining up at 5 AM to see Kohli, they quickly had to open the larger ‘Bishan Singh Bedi Stand’ that holds 11,000 people.
Even though Kohli didn’t get a chance to bat because Delhi captain Ayush Badoni chose to bowl first, he kept the crowd excited. While fielding in slips, he enticed two sections of the crowd to cheer louder against each other. He raised his hands to get one side cheering, then laughed while taking turns with the other side. The 36-year-old player praised the fans and made funny gestures, including a thumbs-up to one crowd section and a friendly “have you eaten?” gesture to the other.
In the match, Railways managed to score 241 runs in their first innings. Wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav made a solid 95 runs, and No. 7 batsman Karn Sharma contributed with a good half-century. Railways started poorly, finding themselves at 21 for 2, with left-arm bowler Siddhant Sharma making an early impact. However, Upendra and Karn formed a strong partnership that frustrated the Delhi bowlers, making it more exciting for the fans waiting to see Kohli bat. For Delhi, bowlers Navdeep Saini and Sumit Mathur each took three wickets
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