Were Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Forced To Play Domestic Cricket? BCCI Breaks Silence Amid ODI Future Speculations

After remarkable performances in the three-match series against South Africa, India's veteran batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be out of action for a few days before turning up for the national team again. Their next assignment will be the ODI series against New Zealand.

However, in an interesting turn of events, both Virat and Rohit are set to make their much-awaited return to domestic cricket. In order to get the continuous game time, they will be playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) for Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, before the New Zealand series. Kohli will play India's premier List-A competition for the first time in 15 years, making his first appearance since 2010. Meanwhile, Rohit will feature in the VHT after a gap of seven years with his last outing in the competition in 2018.

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While there has been a lot of talk around Virat and Rohit's ODI future, both players have shut their critics in style. Virat was the top run-getter against South Africa, scoring 302 runs in the three-match series at an average of 151 on the back of two centuries and a fifty. He scored 135 and 102 in the first two matches before producing a fiery knock of 65 runs in 45 balls to help India win the series 2-1. On the other hand, Rohit had a memorable outing in Australia and scored 146 runs in the recently concluded home series against the Proteas.

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The decision of both players to play domestic cricket has raised eyebrows, but as per a report by RevSportz, there was no nudge from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the former captains to play the VHT, and it was a player's decision.

"They have decided, it’s their decision," a BCCI official was quoted as saying.

Notably, the Vijay Hazare Trophy is scheduled to start on 24th December with the league stage ending on 8th January. The two players will not be available for the knockout stages as they clash with the New Zealand series. It is to be noted that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who both have captained the Indian team in all formats in the past, remain just the ODI players following their Test retirements earlier this year. They announced the T20I retirement last year after India's T20 World Cup victory.