Rohit Sharma, Kohli & Pant Set for Limited Appearances in Vijay Hazare Trophy
Rohit Sharma will play only a limited role in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025–26, which begins on December 24.
The former India captain has confirmed his availability for Mumbai’s opening two matches. The Mumbai Cricket Association shared the update while announcing the squad. As of now, Rohit Sharma will not feature in more than two matches.
Mumbai will also miss several senior players in the early phase. Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube will skip the opening matches. The selectors want to go ahead with a younger players during the first round.
Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil earlier said the management planned to rotate senior names and give opportunities to the next generation. The final squad confirmed that Rohit Sharma will play only two matches in the tournament.
Similar updates have come from Delhi, where Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are also set for selective appearances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26.
Kohli and Pant Named for Delhi’s Opening Games
Virat Kohli has been named in Delhi’s squad for the first two matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Rishabh Pant will lead the side, with Ayush Badoni appointed vice-captain.
Delhi will open their campaign against Andhra on December 24 and Gujarat on December 26. It remains unclear how many matches Kohli and Pant will eventually play. India begin a 3-match ODI series against New Zealand on January 11. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are certain to feature in this series which means even Kohli & Pant will play limited matches of the domestic tournament.
As a backup option, Anuj Rawat has been named as the standby wicketkeeper.
Kohli last played the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2009-10 season, with his most recent appearance coming on February 18, 2010. Across 14 matches, he has scored 819 runs at an average of 68.25 and a strike rate of 106.08, including 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries.
Delhi’s squad for the opening games also includes Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini. Harshit Rana will join the squad after the T20I series against South Africa.
Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli Current Form
With questions around the futures of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both batters recently delivered strong performances, even breaking some records.
Rohit won the Player of the Series award after scoring 200-plus runs against Australia earlier this year. Following that, Kohli earned the Player of the Series award after scoring 302 runs against South Africa after scoring 2 centuries and a fifty.
The duo has retired from Tests and T20Is with ODI being their only active format. The BCCI and selection committee have already instructed all centrally contracted players to feature in at least two rounds of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The domestic tournament will run from December 24 to January 8, with matches hosted in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur and Bengaluru.
Mumbai Squad – Vijay Hazare Trophy
Shardul Thakur (c), Rohit Sharma, Ishan Mulchandani, Musheer Khan, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Chimay Sutar, Akash Anand, Hardik Tamore, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Onkar Tarmale, Sylvester Dsouza, Sairaj Patil, Suryansh Shedge.
Delhi Squad (First Two Matches)
Rishabh Pant (c), Ayush Badoni (vc), Virat Kohli, Arpit Rana, Yash Dhull, Sarthak Ranjan, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Singh (wk), Nitish Rana, Hrithik Shokeen, Harsh Tyagi, Simarjeet Singh, Prince Yadav, Divij Mehra, Ayush Doseja, Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini.