Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are expected to feature in at least three if not four Vijay Hazare Trophy games before the New Zealand ODI series in January, provided they are still aiming to play the 2027 World Cup. Between the conclusion of South Africa ODIs and start of New Zealand leg, there will be at least six rounds of Vijay Hazare Trophy games for Delhi and Mumbai and the national selectors would expect that the ageing duo play in the 50-over event.
The chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar has made it clear that every centrally contracted player, who is fit and available, is expected to play domestic cricket.
"Between last ODI against South Africa on December 6 at Visakhapatnam and the first ODI against New Zealand at Vadodara on January 11, there is a gap of five weeks.
"The Vijay Hazare Trophy starts on December 24. There will be six rounds of games for Mumbai (December 24, 26, 29, 31, Jan 3, 6, 8). Rohit will be expected to at least play three rounds before linking up with the squad. Ditto for Virat," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Even Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel had said that both of them might need to play a bit of domestic cricket to get into the groove and could have actually played the India A series.
“If you need their services, you have to find a way. For example, the India ‘A’ series happened, so you need to ask them to play that series because there is not much 50-over cricket. They should have said that if you don’t play the series, I don’t think you fit in the plan.
"If not this series, then they have to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy, because that will let us know the kind of form you are in,” Ashwin said.
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