In a bid to keep the World Cup hopes alive, former Team India skipper Rohit Sharma has confirmed his availability to play for Mumbai in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, amid uncertainty over Virat Kohli’s participation for Delhi. Board sources while speaking to The Indian Express said that the BCCI has informed both veterans that featuring in domestic cricket is mandatory to stay in contention for ODI selection
The source said,“The board and team management have conveyed to both of them that they will have to play domestic cricket if they want to play for India. As they both have retired from two formats, they have to play domestic cricket to be match-fit,”. The report further states that Rohit has also offered to play in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy starting November 26, despite his T20I retirement.
Rohit and Kohli played one Ranji Trophy game each last season. In January, Kohli turned up for Delhi after 12 years while Rohit turned up for a Mumbai game after 10 years.
At the time, Rohit, explaining the long absence from domestic cricket, had said: “…I can at least say about what has happened with me since I’ve started playing Test cricket regularly, which is from 2019, you have hardly had any time. When you play so much international cricket throughout the year, you need some time off as well as a cricketer just to refresh… But we have addressed it now and nobody takes it for granted or anything like that.”
Will Virat Kohli feature in domestic cricket?
The BCCI, meanwhile, is keen for Kohli to return to domestic cricket to stay in rhythm for the upcoming ODI assignments. With both players retired from Tests and T20Is, the Vijay Hazare Trophy is now their only domestic route to maintain ODI readiness. The tournament begins on December 24, between India’s home ODI series against South Africa (Nov 30–Dec 6) and New Zealand (Jan 11–18).
Both players were recently part of India’s recent ODI series against Australia. Rohit was named Player of the Series for a century and a fifty, while Kohli bounced back from two ducks with an unbeaten 87 in the final ODI to guide India to victory.
