Thousands of fans have filled a stadium in the Indian capital, Delhi, as Virat Kohli makes his much-anticipated return to domestic cricket after more than 12 years. The 36-year-old star batter has turned out for Delhi on Thursday in the Ranji Trophy match against the Railways team at the well-attended Arun Jaitley stadium.

Over 15,000 cricket fans gathered at Arun Jaitley Stadium to watch Virat Kohli 's return to the Ranji Trophy. The former Indian captain is playing against Railways, his first first-class appearance for the first time since 2012.

Fans started to queue up outside Gate No 16 and 17 from 7 am in the morning for the Railways Delhi game, broke barricades; DDCA forced to open more gates and stands

Virat Kohli made a return to play a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi after a decade, attracting a massive crowd of nearly 15,000 fans. Security was tight

Such was Kohli's aura that a strong crowd of over 10,000 remained at the stadium despite Railways batting first.

At first, the DDCA opened the roughly 6,000-capacity 'Gautam Gambhir Stand' for spectators but sensing the crowd situation could go out of hand, the officials were forced to open the 'Bishan Bedi Stand' which can accommodate around 14,

Preparations were being made to telecast the game, more stands than usual were being readied for fans, and players on both sides were excited to be part of his first Ranji Trophy game since 2012

The unmatched aura of Virat Kohli was on full display in and around the Arjun Jaitley Stadium even before the Ranji Trophy fixture between Delhi and Railways could start here as thousands of fans queued up to watch the superstar in his first domestic red-ball appearance in 13 years.