Delhi showed no shame in celebrating its beloved Virat Kohli, who made his return to the Ranji Trophy after more than 12 years in an Elite Group D match against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. Fans flocked to the stadium early in the morning, exceeding all expectations to pay tribute to their King. Kohli's popularity spans all ages, and on Thursday, the crowd included school kids, an aspiring female cricketer, and a housewife, among many others.

"We skipped school just to see Kohli play," said a group of four kids, as reported by PTI. The excitement peaked when Delhi captain Ayush Badoni won the toss, although the decision to bowl first seemed to fade into the background.

When they learned that Kohli wouldn’t be batting right away since Delhi chose to field, they shrugged it off, saying, "It’s cool, we’ll watch him field." A little girl in the crowd, just in second grade, was also there. Fans started lining up as early as 6 am.

"I arrived at 6 am with my son. We were confused about which gate to use. It’s obvious we’re here for Kohli," shared a housewife.

A young man, who was shouting Kohli's name as he entered the stadium, expressed his excitement to see Kohli regain his form after a tough time in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia.

'Kohli needs to score a century'

He really needs to score a hundred; otherwise, the fans are going to be super let down. Everyone's here just to see him play. This kind of turnout isn’t typical for a Ranji match, he mentioned. With chants of his name echoing every few minutes, it’s safe to say that one player turned an otherwise ordinary Ranji game into something special.

The 'Gautam Gambhir Stand' was completely full, and it didn’t take long for the lower tier of the 'Bishan Bedi Stand' to fill up too, pushing the crowd count over 12,000 by the time of the toss. The loud cheers of "Kohli, Kohli" could be heard from far away as the former India captain stepped onto the field with his Delhi teammates, all of whom were feeling the excitement.

Unfortunately, the fans had to wait to see him bat since Delhi chose to bowl first after winning the toss. But just having Kohli on the field was enough to keep everyone engaged.

As he stood at second slip, every little thing he did got the crowd cheering, and in the 12th over, an overly excited fan managed to slip past security to rush towards the 'King'.

He barely touched Kohli's feet before security swooped in to take him away. Aware of his massive fanbase, Kohli made sure to wave to the crowd regularly, showing appreciation for the people who came just to catch a glimpse of him.

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