Ranji Trophy: Virat Kohli in focus during training session for Delhi ahead of clash against Railways

Ranji Trophy: Virat Kohli in focus during training session for Delhi ahead of clash against Railways

For Virat Kohli, a slew of journalists and camerapersons following his every move is nothing new.

A life in the spotlight has long been the norm for a man who stepped into the cauldron of international cricket in 2008 and soon established himself as India’s batting star.

On a mild winter Tuesday morning in the national capital, the cameras were trained on him as expected as the 36-year-old checked in at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in a black Porsche at 9 a.m.

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The only difference was that Kohli’s entry into the stadium, where the pavilion is named after him, was for a Delhi training session ahead of its Ranji Trophy game against Railways from Thursday.

The star batter is set to play in the First-Class competition after more than 12 years, his last appearance coming against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad in November 2012.

It was with some stretching and running exercises that Kohli and the other Delhi players started the warm-up drills. Some kicking around with a football followed. Once Kohli stepped into the practice nets with three bats in tow, however, it was time for serious business.

He began his batting stint by facing throwdowns from around 15 yards out. With his right foot inside the batting crease, as opposed to standing with both feet outside like he usually does, he packed a punch while pulling the short balls directed at him. After his struggles in Australia, where his outside edge was repeatedly found to deliveries outside the off-stump, there has been fierce scrutiny on Kohli’s hesitancy to play shots off the back foot.

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With the square cut largely absent from Kohli’s repertoire, his dependence on the cover-drive, though an extremely productive scoring shot, has been a double-edged sword. During his recent session with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar in Mumbai, Kohli seemed to be focusing on his backfoot play.

Over the next few weeks and months, it will be intriguing to watch whether Kohli is able to find a workable solution to his troubles at this late stage in his career.

After the throwdowns, Kohli switched nets and went up against the spin trio of Shivam Sharma, Harsh Tyagi and Sumit Mathur. Before concluding his nearly hour-long stint, he also faced pacers Navdeep Saini, Siddhant Sharma and Mayank Gusain in the farthest net.

Once he was done with his batting, Kohli was greeted by an eight-year-old fan, who had carried a portrait of the ace batter done by him, with his father Shawej Khan for company.

The young boy had privileged access because Shawej, 38, is a former Delhi cricketer who played alongside Kohli at the junior level. Kohli spoke to the boy, signed the portrait and posed for a photograph much to the youngster’s delight. It made for an endearing moment at a training session where Kohli’s every move was followed intently.