The veteran batter Virat Kohli is all set to play in the upcoming India domestic tournament Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The star has been in top form recently, scoring his 52nd ODI century in the ODI series in South Africa’s tour of India 2025 and was named as Player of the Match for his 135-run knock.
According to sources, Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley confirmed Virat’s availability on December 02 evening. However, he is highly unlikely to play all the games for Delhi.
It is not clear if he will play all of Delhi’s seven league matches, which will go on till January 08, just three days before the start of the ODI series against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli’s decision to play in domestic cricket will allow him to play in the format after 15 years.
His post-match comments in Ranchi have been viewed as a stance with BCCI‘s position that international players must make themselves available for domestic competitions.
“I’ve never been a big believer in a lot of preparation, if that makes sense. All my cricket has been mental. As long as I feel mentally I can play the game, I work physically very hard every day of my life. It’s got nothing to do with cricket anymore. It’s the way I live,” said Virat Kohli in post-match presentations.
His last appearance in the Vijay Hazare in 2009/10, held in Feb-March 2010. His last game was on February 18, 2010, just before the 2010 home series versus South Africa, in which Sachin Tendulkar got the first-ever ODI double century.
Virat Kohli has featured in 14 games, scoring 819 runs at an average of 68.25 and a strike rate of 106.08 with four centuries and three fifties.
Delhi are placed in Group D alongside Gujarat, Services, Saurashtra, Odisha, Railways, Haryana and Andhra this year.
Delhi will play five league matches in Alur and two at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. In the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy the Delhi has won two of their four games under the leadership of Nitish Rana.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is also expected to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were among the runs in the series opener against the proteas in Ranchi and will be expected to make a crucial contricution during the 2nd game at Raipur.
