Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan reacts after knocking over Virat Kohli for 6 in Indian star's Ranji Trophy comeback match

Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan described picking up the wicket of Virat Kohli in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 match against Delhi as a 'dream come true' and a 'special moment'.

Playing in his first Ranji Trophy match since 2012, Kohli was bowled by 6 by Sangwan. The right-arm pacer sneaked one through between bat and pad from over the wicket and sent the star batter's off stump for a walk.

Reacting to the dismissal, the elated 29-year-old told news agency ANI:

"People across India draw inspiration from Virat. Picking his wicket was a special moment for me. It was a dream come true.

"With Virat bhaiya, the Ranji Trophy is gaining such importance. It feels so good. We get to learn a lot from them (players from the national team playing in Ranji). Sharing the dressing room with them is a huge thing," the Railways pacer added.

Kohli managed an impressive straight drive during his knock, but could not live up to expectations as Sangwan produced a great delivery, which was too good for even the seasoned batter. Despite Kohli's wicket, Delhi went to stumps on Day 2 at 334-7 in their first innings. Skipper Ayush Badoni led from the front with 99 off 77 balls, while Sumit Mathur was unbeaten on 78 off 189 deliveries.

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Virat Kohli's lean patch with the bat

Kohli has been struggling for runs in red-ball cricket for a while now. There was a time when he was averaging over 50 in Test cricket. Looking at his stats now, after 123 matches, he has 9,230 runs to his name at an average of 46.85.

The former India captain played 10 Test matches in 2024. In 19 innings, he managed only 417 runs at a poor average of 24.52, with one hundred and one fifty to his name. Kohli scored a ton in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. However, he ended the series with 190 runs in nine innings.

The seasoned batter failed to turn around his fortunes in the New Year Test against Australia in Sydney. The right-handed batter registered scores of 17 & 6 as India lost the contest by six wickets to go down 3-1 in the five-match series.