Kohli's day at the Delhi nets: a slimmer bat, some back-foot batting, and plenty of fans

A larger-than-usual crowd had gathered outside the gate of the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Word had spread that Virat Kohli was going to join the Delhi team to train ahead of their next Ranji Trophy game, which he will be playing from Thursday. Even some TV and YouTube journalists were in attendance, which usually doesn't happen ahead of a Ranji match.

But then this is Kohli and he is returning to domestic cricket after more than 12 years; he last played in the Ranji Trophy in November 2012. Seeing the crowd that had already gathered in anticipation, two days before the game, the sub-inspector stationed at the gate remarked to his colleague that they would have to beef up the security in the coming days.

Around 9.30am, Kohli emerged from a black Porsche, the last among the Delhi players to enter the ground, with around 10 others buzzing around him, including Delhi's head coach Sarandeep Singh. He joined his Delhi team-mates for football drills, bouts of laughter, and 100-metre sprints, before it was time to hit the batting nets.

Kohli padded up, donned his helmet and took out an unusual-looking bat to face a throwdown session. The blade of this bat was much thinner than his usual bats, probably a change forced by the outside edges that led to all eight of his dismissals in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. For about 15 minutes he took throwdowns, delivered from the middle of the pitch; five minutes were spent on front-foot strokes and the rest went on facing back-of-length balls off the back foot. This session was a mix of defensive and aggressive strokes; he was beaten a couple of times outside off but otherwise middled some along-the-ground pulls and short-arm jabs.

Now it was time to move to the other nets to face some spin. Here he switched to his normal bat and for nearly 20 minutes faced left-arm spinners Harsh Tyagi and Sumit Mathur and offspinner Sumit Sharma. He cut short balls from all of them. Tyagi beat Kohli's outside edge a couple of times and some deliveries bounced extra, meeting Kohli's bat on the sticker. Once when Kohli went after a full delivery from Tyagi, attempting a lofted stroke, he managed only a leading-edge. Sarandeep praised the bowler but it was a session in which Kohli was largely steady and in control.

Next, he went to face the fast bowlers for another 20 minutes; the line-up included Navdeep Saini among a bunch of right-arm quicks and a lone left-armer in Siddhant Sharma. When Siddhant beat Kohli's bat twice, with the angle taking the ball away from him, it was time for Sarandeep to step in. He advised Kohli in Punjabi to switch to a middle and off-stump guard, and Kohli did so. He beautifully middled some of the deliveries that followed, drawing applause from the coach.

Saini, the highest-profile of the bowlers, also beat Kohli once but otherwise he looked steady and calm, leaving plenty of deliveries outside off. He transferred his weight on the back foot for the shorter balls, punched some of them through off and nudged and jabbed others towards midwicket.

While Kohli went through the drills, an eight-year-old fan, Kabir, closely watched all his movements, his father telling him to observe how Kohli's head remained still while he played his shots. It turned out that the father was former Delhi player Shawej Khan who had played with Kohli in age-group cricket. Once the nets session ended, Kohli gave Shawej a bear-hug, autographed his son's bat and imparted some advice.

Kohli finished his day with some slip fielding and outfield catching, which he did for about half an hour before posing for some pictures - first alone, and then with some Delhi & District Cricket Association officials - in front of the pavilion named after him.