Virat Kohli's homecoming: Delhi's 'Cheeku' checks in at Kotla, enjoys 'kadhi chawal' for lunch

At exactly 9am when his jet black Porsche zoomed in through the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds Virender Sehwag Gate it was homecoming for Delhis very own Virat Kohli who checked in for a training stint with his firstclass team after more than 12 yearsSave for pacer Navdeep Saini all other 18 members of Delhis squad had only seen him on TV and grown up listening to the tales of how Cheeku the cherubic talent became the King of Indian cricketIn the last 15 years Delhis Cheeku became a hazy memory as he turned into the most commercially viable brand in global cricket the face that ICC sold in its Olympic bid presentationVIDEO Heres what captain of Railways Ranji Team Pratham Singh said about their match against Delhi and facing Virat KohliIts more of an inspiration that Virat Kohli is playing and well be more motivated to do better because there will be a lot of eyeballs in the gamehellip pictwittercom9moFNi4KMtmdash Press Trust of India PTI_News January 28 2025On Monday he was at his home ground for around three hours and had everyone in his vicinity hypnotised Whether the young impressionable players or seasoned head coach Sarandeep Singh or batting coach Bantu Singh all of them evidently wanted to be close to himThough courteous with all the former India skipper seemed more comfortable with his former U19 coach Mahesh Bhati who is also the administrative manager of this teamWoh badlaa nahi hain Usko chholepoori pasand the aur humne mangaake rakhha thaa Usne bola chole puri nahi khawoonga He loves chhole poori we made arrangements for him but he said he didnt want it a senior DDCA Delhi and Districts Cricket Association official told PTIWhat he did seek out after practice ahead of his first Ranji appearance in 12 years from January 30 was also an old favouritePractice ke baad purane time ki tarah kadhi chawal khaya sabke saath He had kadhi chawal with everyone revealed the officialEveryone shadowed the icon like it was an event Ranji Trophy matches are covered by a select bunch of domestic cricket faithfuls but on Monday the numbers trebledEvery move by the King was followed The two coaches Sarandeep and Bantu were by his side throughout and it would be difficult for photographers or videographers to edit them from the frameI remember it was Ajit Chaudhary the erstwhile manager of the Delhi Ranji team who nicknamed him Cheeku back in 200607 DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma fondly called Mama recollected as if it was yesterdayHe has seen Kohli since he first came here for U15 trialsThe TrainingIt 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 BhaiyaThe 35 minute warmup before an inconsequential final game against the Railways was the longest that the senior team has spent to loosen up prior to net sessionThere was a 15minute game of football and he had some sprints down the wide right also enjoying a laugh or twoBut once the net session started the game face was onHe quietly walked to the nets where skipper Ayush Badoni was battingSeeing Kohli walk towards the nets Badoni was visibly conscious before Kohli told him Ayush tu batting karle phir dono switch karke karenge Ayush you keep batting After sometime we will take turns to batHe spent close to an hour at the nets At first he took throwdowns where he kept playing the pull shotOnce he had done enough knocking Kohli entered the spinners nets where he faced leftarm spinners Harsh Tyagi and Sumit Mathur A few balls did grip and stop but there wasnt much bite in their bowlingDitto for pacers Navdeep Saini Money Grewal Rahul Gehlot and Siddhant SharmaUnlike 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 deliveriesOf late he is concentrating on backfoot 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 EpisodeHe 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 saidAdvice for little Kabir and his teammatesA chubby fourth standard student Kabir had come with a sketch of Uncle Virat who once played Delhi U17 and U19 cricket with his father Shavez back in the dayWe had a bat contract with BDM and would go together to pick bats We have been friends for long Shavez saidWhen 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 shouldnt be your Papa telling you to go to practice You should tell Papa I have to go to practiceAnd for his young Delhi colleagues the advice was vintage KohliDelhiwaale ho dum dikhao Shuruat accha kiya phir thande padh gaye Positive khelo jaise Delhiwaale khelte hain he said referring to Delhis inconsistent seasonIn Form or outofform King will remain a KingWith inputs from PTI