BCCI’s message to Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma: Play domestic one-dayers to play for India

BCCI’s message to Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma: Play domestic one-dayers to play for India

If two of Indian cricket’s brightest stars have to stay in the team, they will have to go through the domestic grind.

This is the message from the Indian board for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both have retired from Tests and T20 Internationals but continue to represent the country in One-Day Internationals.

The first step in this direction could possibly be a Vijay Hazare Trophy game on December 24. This is the only one-day game on the domestic calendar between the three-ODI series against South Africa from December 3-9 and another one against New Zealand from January 11 – both at home.

The Indian Express has learnt that Rohit has informed the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) that he will be available to play Vijay Hazare Trophy but there is no clarity yet on Virat’s availability.

Kohli (37) and Rohit (38) last featured in the ODI series in Australia last month, where they went on to join hands for a winning partnership in the final game. While Rohit starred in two of the three games, hitting a hundred in the third match, Kohli bounced back from two ducks to hit an unbeaten 87.

“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,” sources in the board told The Indian Express.

Rohit and Kohli retired from T20Is after the 2024 World Cup, and called time on their Test careers after the 2024-25 tour of Australia.

Rohit is learnt to have informed the MCA that he might even be available for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament scheduled to start on November 26. He has been practising at Mumbai’s Sharad Pawar indoor academy. The Indian board is hoping to also see Kohli, who lives in London these days, playing domestic cricket.

Last month, chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar had stressed on the need for players to turn out in domestic cricket.

“We made it clear a year, or a couple of years back, that whenever players are available, they should be playing domestic cricket. That’s the only way you’ll keep yourself sharp and playing cricket, if you’ve got a long enough break. Whether that’s possible with the international cricket you’re playing or not, only time will tell, but if the guys are free, they should be playing domestic cricket,” he had said.

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.”

Referring specifically to Kohli and Rohit in the context of the next ODI World Cup, Agarkar had said that the two players are not on trial.

“In two years’ time, we don’t know what the situation is going to be. So why just them two? It could be some other younger players [who might miss out on the tournament],” he had said during an NDTV event.

“You are not going to put them on trial in every game. But 2027 is a long way away, both of them play one format […] they haven’t had a lot of cricket [in recent months]. Once they start playing, then you assess as you go forward.

“They are not on trial, they have achieved all they had to achieve, not just winning trophies but runs [as well], so it’s not that if both of them don’t get runs in one series that will be the reason they won’t be there, or if they get three hundreds, [that will be] the reason they play 2027. It’s still a long way away, we’ll see how the team shapes up, but we have some ideas, and as we go along, we’ll probably have a better idea of where the team is progressing.”