Ace India batter Virat Kohli and Rajeev Shukla met Indian vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar ahead of his Ranji Trophy appearance, a picture of which has gone viral on social media. Kohli, who is playing his first domestic red-ball game in over a decade, fielded on Day 1, playing a key role in Delhi’s charge in their final group-stage clash against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Such was the excitement around Kohli's return that the DDCA officials were forced to open extra stands because of a crowd of over 10,000, which is not heard of for a Ranji Trophy match.

Shukla shared a picture from his and Kohli's meeting with Dhankhar, captioning it, "Lovely to meet honourable Vice President of India Shri Dhankad ji. Glad to have the company of @imVkohli."

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Upendra Yadav negated Delhi's advantage with a resolute 95 to steer Railways to 241 on day one of their tie dominated by Kohli's grand return to domestic cricket after 13 years.

Delhi Police had resorted to a lathi charge to control the crowd at the stadium, which was at its excited best, with youngsters even trying to jump over walls and gates.

The pace trio of Navdeep Saini, Siddhant Sharma and Money Grewal exploited the morning conditions to reduce Railways to 66/5 in the first session before Upendra and veteran spinner Karn Sharma (50 off 105) forged a 104-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Asked if they were under pressure seeing such a huge crowd for a first-class game, Upendra told the media after the day's play, "We were not under pressure because of the big crowd, we did not throw away our wickets, the credit must go to Delhi bowlers."

All eyes will be on Kohli on Friday, who came and sat beside the boundary line after the day's play began.

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