[File photo] A video of Kohli training with Bangar recently surfaced © Getty Virat Kohli has departed for Delhi to join the Delhi Ranji Trophy team after spending nearly a week training in Alibaug, a coastal town near Mumbai. The star batter worked intensely on his batting technique with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar at a Reliance cricket facility in Alibaug. A video of Kohli training with Bangar, who previously worked with the batter at the Indian team and Royal Challengers Bangalore, recently went viral, sparking speculation that the session took place at a Mumbai nets facility. It has now emerged that the two were working at a property in Alibaug. Kohli turning to Bangar to reassess his batting technique is not exactly unsurprising, given that some of Kohli’s finest performances came during Bangar’s tenure as India’s batting coach. In the period between 2014-19 when Bangar was Indian team’s batting coach, Kohli had scored 11767 runs with 41 hundred across formats. He was regarded as the world’s best batter in that period. Kohli’s batting has been under intense scrutiny in recent times for the diminishing returns with the bat. Despite scoring a century, he aggregated a mere 190 runs in five BGT Tests in Australia, triggering calls for his head. With skipper Rohit Sharma too in equally bad form, worse in fact, there have been calls for the selectors to drop the two senior batters from the national team. For now, though, the place of Kohli, like that of Rohit’s, in the national team is safe because India will be playing in Champions Trophy. But Kohli’s similar and frequent mode of dismissal, on outside the off stump, has exposed inadequacies in his technique. Ahead of the Ranji game, Kohli trained with Bangar for close to a week before leaving for Delhi, where he will be involved for his home state. Delhi take on Railways in an Elite Group D game at Arun Jaitley Stadium from January 30. Kohli has not played a Ranji match in over 13 years, with his last domestic first-class appearance being against Uttar Pradesh in November 2012. However, following a directive from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), he is now compelled to participate in the domestic fixture, a move many internationals have complied with recently. While Delhi, currently sixth on the points table, are out of contention for a knockout spot, the match holds significance for Railways, who are placed fourth and still in the running for a berth in the knockouts. The stakes apart, the spotlight will clearly be on Kohli’s performance with the bat. KL, Kaverappa boost for Karnataka KL Rahul has confirmed his availability to Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for the state’s next Ranji game, against Haryana, to be played at Chinnaswamy Stadium from January 30. The state team will also be boosted by the return of Vidwath Kaverappa, the fast bowler, who has been missing in action due to injury. Karnataka chief selector J Abhiram confirmed this to Cricbuzz. Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) said Ravindra Jadeja, who played a pivotal role in the game against Delhi, will be available for the state’s next match, against Assam. Saurashtra are in third place in the Group D and they need a win to qualify for the knockouts and Jadeja’s presence is a big impetus for the former champions. The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has said Mohammed Siraj will take part in their next game, against Vidarbha, to be played in Nagpur. It will be Siraj’s first competitive game after the recent BGT series. HCA secretary Devaraj confirmed Siraj’s participation to Cricbuzz on Monday evening.
