The 2027 World Cup is just 1.5 years away, and the Indian team management has already started to set the road map. With Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer as the captain and Vice Captain, the team had already started to set the tone. BCCI also made it mandatory for players that a player should have to play domestic cricket to continue their journey further. Ishan Kishan’s development in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy opened his spot in the Indian T20I World Cup; it’s also a sign of how the BCCI is planning to operate the management.
Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 50-over based tournament, is all set to kick off from 24th October and will feature many of the Indian stars like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and many others.
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Previously, the regular members of the Indian squad often skipped domestic cricket, but after the BCCI’s new mandate, players started taking it seriously.
Players to watch out for in the Vijay Hazare Trophy
Many of the big names of Indian cricket are all set to wear their state jerseys after a long interval. Virat Kohli, who played his last test match in this year’s Ranji Trophy, is all set to play domestic cricket again. Virat Kohli has been named in Delhi's squad for the first two matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Delhi's opening fixtures are against Andhra on December 24 and Gujarat on December 26. It is uncertain how many matches Kohli and Rishabh Pant will be available for, as India is scheduled to play a three-match ODI series against New Zealand starting January 11. In any case, Anuj Rawat has been named the standby wicketkeeper in the squad. Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini also made themselves available for selection.
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Kohli last competed in the Vijay Hazare Trophy during the 2009-10 season, with his most recent appearance on February 18, 2010. Kohli has played 14 Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, amassing 819 runs at an average of 68.25 and a strike rate of 106.08, with four hundreds and three half-centuries.
After Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, the Indian long-format captain, was also named in the Punjab squad along with Abhishek Sharma.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named captain for Maharashtra, while Nitish Kumar Reddy will lead the Andhra squad. Along with that, Jharkhand also named Ishan Kishan as captain, and Kumar Kushagra will lead the side in his absence as he is going to play in the New Zealand Series.
Rohit Sharma also joined his state side, Mumbai, under the leadership of Shardul Thakur. Rohit Sharma played his last Vijay Hazare match 7 years ago, while he came to bat as an opener in the semi-finals against Andhra Pradesh.
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Though Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane will not play the first two matches as the Mumbai selectors wanted to give the juniors a run.
