Why did Virat Kohli miss BCCI Naman Awards 2025?

On Saturday, February 1, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), the highest cricket regulating body in India, held the prestigious Naman Awards 2025. Remarkably, the esteemed award is given out every year to honour the players who have excelled both domestically and internationally.

In light of this, a number of prominent Indian cricketers and legends have been invited to the gala event. Nevertheless, Virat Kohli, the former captain and great batsman for India, was not present at the event this year. This left the crowd perplexed as to why one of the contemporary greats did not attend the occasion.

In case you haven’t heard, Virat Kohli was playing for his state side, Delhi, in the Ranji Trophy match against Railways at Delhi’s famous Arun Jaitley Stadium. His 100th game in the domestic arena was noteworthy as well. As Kohi was still playing the game, he decided not to go to the Naman Awards because he couldn’t have travelled to Mumbai so quickly.

Delhi defeated Railways handily, and Virat Kohli was not given another opportunity to bat.

In the meantime, Kohli was cheaply dismissed (6 runs off 15 balls) during the Ranji Trophy 2024–25 match after his off-stump went for a cartwheel. The young Himanshu Sangwan treasured the opportunity to get rid of one of India’s top batsmen. Then, by the narrowest of margins, Ayush Badoni missed a well-earned century after playing a captain’s knock. Despite this, Delhi managed to reply to Railways’ first-inning score of 241 with an impressive total of 374 runs.

With a commanding advantage, Delhi decided not to bat again in the second innings and instead bowled out their opponents cheaply for 114 runs, winning the match by a decisive margin of 19 runs and an innings. This game was significant because it marked Virat Kohli’s return to Indian domestic cricket after a 13-year absence.