After a 12-year break, Virat Kohli returns to the Ranji Trophy. In Delhi's game against Railways, Kohli, who had a horrible Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–2025, is expected to return. Two days prior to the commencement of the match, on Tuesday, January 28, the Indian Cricket Board abruptly changed their plans to live stream the match.
Virat Kohli's match streaming to happen
Earlier, the BCCI had no plans of broadcasting or streaming the match. However, because Virat Kohli would be playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, those plans appear to have changed. An official from the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association told PTI that they were unaware of the BCCI's intentions to broadcast the match because the body was already broadcasting Bengal vs Punjab and Karnataka vs Haryana matches.
"We don't know if BCCI will make any last-minute arrangements since Kohli is playing, but we haven't been intimated about the broadcast of this game. Normally, all big centres get one live game allotted (TV or streaming). We had a game against Tamil Nadu which was aired live. The roster for broadcast is set months in advance," a DDCA official had told PTI.
"In the next round, the main match that will be televised as well as live-streamed is Karnataka versus Haryana at Chinnaswamy. Two more matches will be streamed. One of those is Bengal vs Punjab at Eden Gardens. There is a streaming of a third match, but as of now, it doesn't involve Delhi," a BCCI official had also confirmed with PTI.
With his return, Kohli will play in the Ranji Trophy for the first time since 2012, when he faced Uttar Pradesh. Due to a neck sprain, he was unable to play in Delhi's most recent encounter against Saurashtra. Following the BCCI's stringent directive, the game is part of a larger trend of elite Indian players making a comeback to domestic cricket. Following India's terrible Test cricket performances against New Zealand and Australia, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Rishabh Pant all participated in the Ranji Trophy.
Here are the details of when and where to watch Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match online and on TV in India.
When will the Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match start?
The Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match will begin on January 30 (Thursday).
What time will the Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match begin?
The Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match will begin at 9:30 AM IST.
Where will the Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match take place?
The Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match will be played in Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
How to live stream the Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match?
The Virat Kohli's Ranji Trophy match match will be live-streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website.
Ranji Trophy: Delhi Squad vs Railways
Ayush Badoni (c), Virat Kohli, Sanat Sangwan, Arpit Rana, Yash Dhull, Jonty Sidhu, Himmat Singh, Navdeep Saini, Money Grewal, Harsh Tyagi, Siddhant Sharma, Shivam Sharma, Pranav Rajvanshi, Vaibhav Kandpal, Mayank Gusain, Gagan Vats, Sumit Mathur, Rahul Gahlot, Jitesh Singh, Vansh Bedi.