Virat Kohli Does Not Get To Bat On Day 1, Attracts Crowd Of Over 15,000 For Ranji Trophy

Virat Kohli was the talk of the town upon making his domestic cricket comeback after 12 years.

Upendra Yadav negated Delhi's early advantage with a resolute 95 to steer Uttar Pradesh to 241 on day one of their Ranji Trophy tie dominated by Virat Kohli's grand return to domestic red-ball cricket after 13 years. The pace trio of Navdeep Saini, Siddhant Sharma and Money Grewal exploited the early morning conditions to reduce Railways to 66 for five in the first session before Upendra and veteran spinner Karn Sharma (50 off 105) forged a 104-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Kohli's towering presence on the field fired up players on both sides with an unprecedented fan attendance adding to the intensity.

With more than 12,000 people in the stands for a Ranji Trophy game that would be otherwise played in front of empty stands, Upendra made a big impact after the fine show by Delhi pacers.

Upendra was on course for a third hundred of the season but fell towards the close of play after mistiming an aerial hit off left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur to be caught at long-off. In the previous over, Upendra had played a couple of pull shots to get into the 90s. In total, he collected 10 fours and a six.