Virat Kohli is all set to skip Delhi's match against Railways in the Vijay Hazare Trophy that is scheduled to be played on January 6. The star batter had played in Delhi's opening two games of the tournament against Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat respectively, but has been absent ever since.
After missing the next three rounds, the 37-year-old was reported to feature in Delhi's sixth game of the tournament against Railways in Alur. However, it turns out that Virat will be absent from then match and with him set to play India's upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, it is highly likely that he won't be featuring in the remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Sarandeep on Kohli's availability
Delhi coach Sarandeep Singh confirmed that Virat will not be available for the side's upcoming fixture. “No, he is not available,” Sarandeep told Hindustan Times. If he would have played the game, then he would have come up against pacer Himanshu Sangwan, who had taken his wicket on his long return to domestic cricket during the previous season of the Ranji Trophy.
Rohit Sharma has also played just two games in the ongoing edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and will not be featuring in the remainder of the tournament. The batter played the first two games for Mumbai that were against Sikkim and Uttarakhand respectively. While he played a phenomenal knock of 155 in the first match, he got dismissed for a golden duck in the next game.
Both Virat and Rohit will be absent
Though both Virat and Rohit will be absent, the upcoming round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy will include prominent Team India stars like Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. Gill hadn't featured in Punjab's previous match due to food poisoning, but is now expected to be in action against Goa. On the other hand, Iyer has been handed Mumbai's captaincy as Shardul Thakur has been ruled out of the tournament due to a calf injury.
Meanwhile, India's three-match ODI series against New Zealand will commence from January 11 with the first game set to be held in Vadodara. The Men in Blue recently announced their squad for the assignment and included both Rohit and Virat in it. It remains to be seen if the duo will be able to maintain their superb form in one-day cricket against the Black Caps at home.
India's squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC)*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal