Watch: Virat Kohli practises ahead of Delhi's Ranji Trophy 2024-25 game against Railways

Several star India players have graced the domestic cricket stage after cries over their depleting forms with the bat and criticism over neglecting the domestic games. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant have made their presence felt as the second phase of the Ranji Trophy commenced. 

However, Virat Kohli’s arrival to the fray after almost 12 years of hiatus was under speculations. The rumours of him sustaining a neck strain surfaced as he was unavailable for Delhi’s game against Saurashtra. To put a full stop to all the ifs and buts, the former India captain was seen practising in the nets ahead of Delhi’s next game against Railways. 

Here’s the video of Kohli’s practice session: 

After the Ranji Trophy appearance, the players will look forward to the three-match ODI series against the touring England side. Currently, England are engrossed in the ongoing five-match T20I series against India led by Suryakumar Yadav. For the unversed, on January 18, BCCI unveiled the squad for Champions Trophy 2025 and iterated that the same squad will be fielded against England in the ODI series. 

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Fans were puzzled as star pacer Mohammed Siraj was left out of the squad and Harshit Rana was picked as the travelling reserve. The most welcoming aspect of the announcement was the presence of Mohammed Shami’s name in the list. The pacer has not represented India since the World Cup 2023 final on 19 November, 2023 as he was nursing an injury on his ankle.

India’s squad for ODI series vs England and ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (Subject to fitness), Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja 

Reserves: Harshit Rana