6 popular players who were in the Delhi XI when Virat Kohli made his First Class debut in 2006

Virat Kohli is one of the best cricketers that India has seen. It was back in November 2006 against Tamil Nadu that he made his FC debut. In this article, we take a look at six popular players who were in the Delhi XI when Virat Kohli made his First Class debut in 2006.

Delhi was a strong team back then. Most of the Indian players hailed from Delhi and when possible, they also played in the Ranji Trophy. In Virat's debut game, too, there were a lot of popular Delhi players in the XI. We take a look at their names below:

1) Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir is one of the popular players who were in the Delhi XI when Virat Kohli made his First Class debut in 2006. During Virat Kohli's rise, Gambhir was a consistent part of the Indian XI and also played for Delhi. Gambhir opened the innings for India for a long time. After Sourav Ganguly, India needed a left-hander in the top order. Here is where Gambhir stepped up for the men in blue.

2) Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan is still a part of the Indian Team. He was a couple of batches senior to Virat at the U19 level. Although Shikhar played in all three formats of the game, it was in the ODI format that he helped India a lot. He is also likely to open for India in the 2023 ODI World Cup. 

3) Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra is also one of the popular players who were in the Delhi XI when Virat Kohli made his First Class debut in 2006. By then, Nehra had consolidated his position in the Indian Team. Along with Zaheer Khan, Nehra helped India by having a left-arm pace option. 

4) Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma was also one of the players who were a part of the XI. Back then, Ishant was doing well in domestic cricket and was close to the Indian Team. A few years later, after his performance in Australia, Ishant became a permanent member of the Indian Test Team. 

5) Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra is also one of the popular players who were in the Delhi XI when Virat Kohli made his First Class debut in 2006. The current commentator played for India and was part of some famous victories for Delhi. He always did well in domestic cricket and played against Tamil Nadu when Virat made his debut.

6) Rajat Bhatia

Rajat Bhatia played a superb knock in that game against Tamil Nadu. Although he also did well in the IPL, he never made his India debut. Since India had lack of medium pace bowling all-rounders, an opportunity to Bhatia could have been a good decision by the selectors.