Vijay Hazare Trophy gets star boost as Kohli, Rohit return to domestic circuit

Bengaluru: An array of international stars and a cluster of upcoming talent will provide the much-needed context to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, beginning at various venues on Wednesday. 

After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it mandatory for all national team players to feature in at least two games if there is a gap of three weeks between two international assignments, the domestic one-day competition which has struggled to maintain its primacy, has received a shot in the arm. 

And all eyes will expectedly be on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who have set the ODIs afire with their recent performances, putting selection debates around them to rest; at least for now. 

Delhi will get their Group D campaign underway against Andhra at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru and for a city that has been starved of international cricket in the recent past, this comes as a consolation. 

Sadly, it will not be open to public as the Karnataka government rejected a request to host the game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Given the June 4 stampede and the popularity of Virat Kohli, who will turn up for Delhi, in Bengaluru, the concerned authorities have played it safe even though the Karnataka State Cricket Association has offered to host the match behind closed doors.     

About 2000 kms away in Jaipur, Rohit will be back in Mumbai colours after confirming his availability to play their first two games against Sikkim (Dec 24) and Uttarakhand (Dec 26). 

India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and hard-hitting middle-order bat Shivam Dube will play the last two group stage matches on January 6 and 8, respectively. 

While Kohli and Rohit continue to be the cynosure, Shubman Gill, who was recently omitted from India’s T20 World Cup squad will turn up for Punjab. 

Rishabh Pant, who has gone out-of-favour in India's white-ball setup, will lead Delhi. The 28-year-old, who last played for India back in August 2024 in the limited-overs format, will be looking to create a major impact, especially after seeing the returns his 2016 under-19 World Cup batch-mate Ishan Kishan received after his brilliant domestic run. 

Karnataka face Jharkhand in opener

Defending champions Karnataka, who open their campaign against Jharkhand, would have been pleased when the first phase of the Ranji Trophy came to a halt. However, things have gone southward since then as they were knocked out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in humbling fashion, managing just two wins in seven games. 

Amid a white-ball slump, the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament will also pose a serious challenge as they have been slotted in a tricky group with arch-rivals Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Pondicherry.

Karnataka will again look towards Karun Nair, the highest run-scorer in the previous edition and hope for their skipper Mayank Agarwal to return to form. Smaran R, who scored a brilliant 101 in the last edition's final, will be eager to continue his ongoing purple patch. 

Delhi will open their Elite Group D campaign underway against Andhra at the BCCI