'Isko bolte hain izzat': Virat Kohli's Ranji mania reaches Pakistan

All roads in Delhi led to the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the last two days, with the national capital in the grip of Virat Kohli fever, as the batting legend made his return to Ranji Trophy after 12 years.
Crowd in excess of 15,000 witnessed Kohli playing for Delhi once again on Thursday, while many more thronged the stadium on Friday in anticipation of watching Kohli bat after Delhi had bowled out Railways on Day 1.

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The scenes of fans chanting Kohli's name reverberated the lanes leading up to the stadium gates and then echoed inside the arena, with the legend, who was fielding in the slips, interacting with the crowd on several occasions.
Watching these scenes unfold, former Pakistan batter Basit Ali was in awe of the adulation and love that Kohli received from his fans.
"I have seen very few players in my life, maybe just 2-3, who had such fan-following," said Basit on his YouTube channel. "Aaj to Pakistan mei bhi trend bana hua tha. Sab likh rahe, 'dekho, izzat isko bolte hain' (even people in Pakistan were writing, 'see, this is called respect').
"Yeh banda Delhi se kyu nahi khelta IPL mei, RCB se kyu khelta hai? (why he doesn't play for Delhi in the IPL instead of RCB)," he cheekily added.

On the first day, after Delhi captain Ayush Badoni opted to field and the fans had to wait to watch the legend bat, Kohli was seen having fun on the field, while keeping his intensity up.
"He was enjoying with his old friends and the public. The fans were just waiting for him to respond and chanting 'Kohli, Kohli' for seven hours straight," Basit observed.
"Despite not being in good form lately, he is blessed by the almighty with so much respect; I have seen that for the first time in my life for an out-of-form player."
However, the fan-fare had an anti-climax on Friday, when Kohli was dismissed for just 6 runs by Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan -- a product of the MRF Pace Foundation under Australian legend Glenn McGrath.
After hitting Sangwan for a four straight past him, Kohli played a loose shot and left a huge gap between his bat and pad, which the bowler found with his in-cutter to send the off-stump cartwheeling.
The dismissal extended Kohli's poor run of form, which saw him scoring just 191 runs in 9 innings of the five Tests on the tour of Australia.