Virat Kohli is gearing up to return to the Ranji Trophy after a 12-year gap. The star batter has already arrived in Delhi and begun training with the squad ahead of their match against Railways, which is set to begin on January 30 at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Kohli has been included in the 20-member squad for Delhi's upcoming fixture. At 36, he is the latest high-profile player to return to domestic cricket following the BCCI’s directive requiring centrally contracted players to represent their state teams in order to stay in contention for selection and central contracts.

Kohli’s last Ranji appearance was in 2012, when he played for Delhi against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad. In that game, he scored 14 runs off 19 balls in the first innings and 43 runs off 65 balls in the second innings, both times falling to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Notably, Kohli's last Ranji match also featured Gautam Gambhir, then-captain Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, and Ishant Sharma. Delhi posted 235 runs in their first innings, conceding a lead of 168 runs as Uttar Pradesh made 403 runs. Sehwag then scored a century in the second innings to help Delhi reach 322. Uttar Pradesh chased down a target of 155 runs in just 40 overs, winning by six wickets.

Kohli has played 41 first-class matches for Delhi, amassing 2,891 runs in 64 innings at an average of 51.62, with a highest score of 197. His debut came in 2006 against Tamil Nadu, where he scored 10 runs in his only innings. In a career-defining moment, Kohli scored 90 runs for Delhi against Karnataka in 2006, just hours after his father’s passing.

Kohli has been struggling for form recently, managing only 190 runs in nine innings during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. However, with his return to domestic cricket, fans hope he regains his peak form. He has already begun working on his backfoot play, and it will be interesting to see how his Ranji Trophy campaign unfolds.

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