Kohli and Rohit return to Vijay Hazare Trophy as star power lifts domestic cricket

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma return to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, adding star power to the domestic one-day championship. With Gill, Pant and other top names also in action, selectors will keenly watch performances of rising talents and bowlers

Bengaluru: The charismatic presence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, alongside a host of top India cricketers, lends unprecedented gravitas to the Vijay Hazare One-Day Trophy beginning on Wednesday, giving all of them a chance to prove a point amid renewed focus on the domestic grind.

The line-up of superstars also features Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma among others, but none attracts as much attention as Kohli and Rohit. Their appearance has a direct link to the BCCI decision of making at least two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches mandatory for India cricketers.

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In the case of Kohli, who is playing in this tournament after 15 years, and Rohit, it is a sharp reminder that they are no longer immune to the evolving power equations within Indian cricket.

The celebrated pair remain the biggest current stars of the game, but that status cannot mask the reality that both cricket and time have moved ahead. Watching that gradual unfolding of struggle itself is fascinating.

Can Ro-Ko fire?
Rohit has made it clear that he will play the first two matches for Mumbai against Sikkim and Uttarakhand in Jaipur on December 24 and 26.

Kohli, who has been training with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar in Mumbai, has not yet decided which two or three matches he will play for Delhi. Delhi will open their Elite Group D campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru at the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the Karnataka government denied permission to hold matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium citing security reasons. They will then face Gujarat. Since his arrival in Bengaluru on Tuesday night, assumptions are being made that the star batter will play those two matches.

Both Kohli and Rohit still have the power to choose their games, but what they do not seem to have is the power to choose their destiny. An underwhelming outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy will not affect their selection for the ODIs against New Zealand next month, but more than anyone else, Kohli and Rohit would know that the space around them is shrinking.

They know that younger names are breathing down their necks. How long can they resist the weight of domestic runs scored by rising stars? There are plenty of them too, in the likes of Yash Dhull and R Smaran.

The recent omission of Gill from India’s T20 World Cup squad and the inclusion of Ishan Kishan on the back of a stellar Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a grim pointer to what might happen with Kohli and Rohit if runs do not flow easily from their bats.

If selectors can drop Gill, the current high-value property in Indian cricket, because of combination compulsions, then not many will be spared. So, for Kohli and Rohit, this is a battle with themselves to find the inner fire in the modest surroundings of a domestic event, as much as it is against a tight circle of younger players.

Gill, Pant eye fruitful outing
Besides the Ro-Ko show, there are several interesting sub-plots to explore. Pant, a Test certainty, will be eager to bring himself back in contention for white-ball formats. The wicketkeeper-batter has not represented the country in either ODIs or T20Is since August 2024.

Gill, on the other hand, will be picking himself up after the selectors’ call to overlook him for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The right-hander will aim to vent some of that frustration while turning out for Punjab. For Gill, it will be a good warm-up ahead of next month’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand, in which he will lead India.

Will young bowling talents emerge?
Another pertinent point could be the interest of selectors in young bowlers in this edition of the tournament, particularly pacers. Since Mohammed Siraj came through the Ranji Trophy circuit a few years back, no young talent has been able to produce compelling outings to break into the established Indian pace order.

Even the support line consisting of Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep has not been consistent enough. In that context, Gurjapneet Singh (Tamil Nadu), Gurnoor Brar (Punjab), Yudhvir Singh (J&K), Anuj Thakral (Haryana) and Sakib Hussain (Bihar) will evoke keen interest from selectors.

Matches start at 9 am.