Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: With the senior men’s national side experiencing over two weeks of break in the winter, Team India’s white-ball superstars will turn up for their respective state teams for a few rounds of 50-over action in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting Wednesday.
ODI giants Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, wicketkeeper-batters KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, ODI skipper Shubman Gill and several senior stars are expected to play in the first few rounds across four venues in the country.
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Both Kohli and Rohit are returning to the tournament after huge spans in their respective careers, after having dominated ODI cricket for the last 15 years. Here’s a look at what happened in the last outings of these key stars in the Vijay Hazare Trophy:
Virat Kohli
Despite piling on nearly 16,000 runs in List A cricket in just over 300 matches, Kohli only featured in 13 matches for his state side, Delhi, in the format in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Interestingly, Kohli’s last Vijay Hazare Trophy appearance came 15 years ago on February 18, 2010, captaining Delhi against Services at the Tata Energy Research Institute Oval ground in Gurgaon.
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Kohli is now poised to appear in Delhi’s first few rounds of action, with the team opening their campaign against Delhi in Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli during the 2009-10 VHT for Delhi. (File)
In his last outing back in 2010, Kohli batted at No. 5 and scored 16 runs in Delhi’s colossal 113-run win, powered by a century from Mithun Manhas, the current BCCI president.
Kohli’s batting record in VHT for Delhi: Innings – 16; Runs – 910; 100s: 4; 50s: 4; AVE: 60.66
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Rohit Sharma
Over the course of the last 19 years in his List A career, Rohit has appeared in 18 Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Mumbai. Rohit last turned up for Mumbai seven years ago in 2018, shortly after leading India to the Asia Cup title. Rohit appeared in the quarter-final and semi-final matches against Bihar and Hyderabad with Mumbai winning both games comfortably. Rohit aggregated 49 runs in both games, remaining unbeaten on 32 against Bihar.
Rohit’s List A record for Mumbai: Innings – 24; Runs – 823; 100s: 1; 50s: 5; AVE: 37.40
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Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw during the 2018-19 VHT for Mumbai. (File)
KL Rahul
Unlike Kohli and Rohit, KL Rahul made his List A debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2009-10 season and has since appeared for Karnataka in 42 matches in the tournament. Having established himself as an ODI mainstay in the last five years, Rahul’s set of games in the tournament came in the 2019-20 season, shortly after India’s 2019 ODI World Cup heartbreak.
Rahul powered Karnataka to the title over neighbours Tamil Nadu after putting on a stellar show in the knockouts with successive scores 90, 88* and 52 not out in the final. Rahul aggregated 598 runs in 11 matches, averaging 66.44 in the victorious season.
Rahul’s VHT batting record for Karnataka: Innings – 42; Runs – 1709; 100s: 4; 50s: 11; AVE: 44.97
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Shubman Gill
Having made his List A debut for Punjab in the VHT as young as an 18-year-old, Gill has dominated the world ODI batting charts this decade, averaging over 60 in the format. A spate of recent injuries and poor form has seen him lose out on a T20 World Cup spot and miss India’s previous ODI series against South Africa, but Gill is likely to turn up in a few matches for Punjab to rekindle his run-scoring streak. The right-hander last played in the tournament in late 2019, in a solitary game against Haryana where he opened the batting and was dismissed for 23 runs.
Gill’s VHT batting record for Punjab: Innings – 20; Runs – 838; 100s: 3; 50s: 3; AVE: 44.10
