Training session
It was an occasion to remember for the Sanat Sangwans, Arpit Ranas and Siddhant Sharmas but for Kohli it was business as usual.
It seemed he had left the star outside the ground and had turned up as their very own ‘Virat Bhaiya’.
The 35 minute warm-up before an inconsequential final game against the Railways was the longest that the senior team has spent to loosen up prior to net session.
There was a 15-minute game of football and he had some sprints down the wide right, also enjoying a laugh or two.
But once the net session started, the game face was on.
He quietly walked to the nets where skipper Ayush Badoni was batting.
Kohli told him: ‘Ayush tu batting karle, phir dono switch karke karenge (Ayush you keep batting. After sometime, we will take turns to bat.)” He spent close to an hour at the nets.
At first, he took throw-downs where he kept playing the pull shot.
Once he had done enough knocking, Kohli entered the spinners’ nets where he faced left-arm spinners Harsh Tyagi and Sumit Mathur.
A few balls did grip and stop but there wasn’t much bite in their bowling.
Ditto for pacers Navdeep Saini, Money Grewal, Rahul Gehlot and Siddhant Sharma.
Unlike India nets, Kohli hardly looked troubled although he did practice leaving a lot of deliveries.
With the Champions Trophy round the corner, Kohli was seen trying to play a lot beside the line of deliveries.
Of late, he is concentrating on back-foot play and trying to increase his range of shots square of wicket.
Obviously, before trying out in Champions Trophy, domestic cricket is good ground for a ‘Pilot Episode’.
“He was very happy with the surfaces. He said, practice wicket, centre strip everything is of top quality. I told him credit to our young curator Ankit Datta.
He said, ‘Bhaiyya mazaa aa gaya batting karke. Kal phir aaoonga batting karne,’ Bhati said.
Advice for little Kabir and his teammates
A chubby fourth standard student Kabir had come with a sketch of ‘Uncle Virat’, who once played Delhi U-17 and U-19 cricket with his father Shavez back in the day.
“We had a bat contract with BDM and would go together to pick bats. We have been friends for long,” Shavez said.
When Kabir was asked about his conversation with Kohli, he said: “I asked him how can I play for India? He said, ‘You have to practice hard. And it shouldn’t be your Papa telling you to go to practice. You should tell Papa, I have to go to practice’.”
And for his young Delhi colleagues, the advice was vintage Kohli.
“Delhiwaale ho, dum dikhao. Shuruat accha kiya phir thande padh gaye. Positive khelo jaise Delhiwaale khelte hain,” he said referring to Delhi’s inconsistent season.
In form or out-of-form, ‘King’ will remain a ‘King’.