Thousands of fans have filled a stadium in the Indian capital, Delhi, as Virat Kohli makes his much-anticipated return to domestic cricket after more than 12 years. The 36-year-old star batter has turned out for Delhi on Thursday in the Ranji Trophy match against the Railways team at the well-attended Arun Jaitley stadium.

Virat Kohli's highest score for Delhi came in 2008 Nissar Trophy against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited when the star batter scored 197 in the second innings.

At first, the DDCA opened the roughly 6,000-capacity 'Gautam Gambhir Stand' for spectators but sensing the crowd situation could go out of hand, the officials were forced to open the 'Bishan Bedi Stand' which can accommodate around 14,

Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji Trophy after more than a decade has ignited immense excitement among cricket fans, drawing fresh attention to India’s premier domestic tournament. The star batter, who last played in the competition in 2012, was named in Delhi’s starting XI for their clash against Railways.

Such was Kohli's aura that a strong crowd of over 10,000 remained at the stadium despite Railways batting first.

The star batter is all set to return to his Delhi team for the final round of the group stage of the domestic first-class tournament against Railways—and that too after 13 years! Well, we have all seen Virat Kohli making record after record at the international level, but we haven't seen him playing Ranji in a very long time.

Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli on Tuesday practiced with his Delhi Ranji teammates at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here as the senior batter is set for a comeback into the domestic circuit after 12 years.