India ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that he will feature for Mumbai's next Ranji Trophy match against Jammu and Kashmir which is scheduled to start from January 23 at MCA Cricket Ground in Maharashtra. Rohit's last Ranji Trophy appearance was in November 2015 against Uttar Pradesh at the Wankhede Stadium.
“I will (play),” Rohit said on Saturday as India unveiled their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in the presence of the skipper and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar.
After India's dismal outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia, BCCI conducted a review meeting where the Board has came out with 10 guidelines for India's centrally-contracted players, including making participation in domestic tournaments mandatory for selection in the national team.
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The India skipper said, "Last 6-7 years, if you go back and look at our calendar, there hasn't been a time where we were sitting at home for 45 days and there is (domestic) cricket going on. You do get that time when you finish IPL and if there's nothing happening (in domestic cricket) right after that..." Rohit said.
"But if you see our domestic season, it starts in October, maybe September, and it gets over by February-March and that is the time India plays a lot of cricket as well. So, guys who are not playing certain formats and have time, and then there is domestic cricket happening, then they will play.
"But (in) the last 6-7 years, I can at least tell about what has happened with me since I've started playing Test cricket regularly, which is from 2019, you hardly have any time in hand and then, when you play so much international cricket through the year, you need some time off as well as a cricketer just to refresh, get your mind right, just to be ready for the upcoming season."
Rohit was recently seen struggling in the five-Test match series against Australia. He managed to score 31 runs in three Test matches where Australia defeated India 3-1 to confirm their berth for the World Test Championship (WTC) title.