Virat Kohli Joins Delhi Squad; Rishabh Pant to Lead in Vijay Hazare Trophy

New Delhi:

Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini have confirmed their availability for the first two rounds of the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy as the India internationals have been named in Delhi’s squad.

Pant has been appointed the captain for the team, which was released by the Delhi & District Cricket Association for the first two matches of the season that gets underway on December 24. 

The availability of India internationals comes after BCCI’s diktat that made it mandatory for all the current players to feature in the 50-over tournament. 

The rationale behind mandating every current player to feature in the domestic white-ball tournament is that there is a three-week gap between the end of the T20I series against South Africa on December 19 and the start of the ODI series against New Zealand on January 11. 

Moreover, the Board wants to set the rules the same for other players alongside Rohit and Kohli. Both the senior batters have intimated their availability for the tournament, while senior stars like Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav have also been asked to play at least two games for their respective teams.

The mandate does not apply to Shreyas Iyer, who is nursing his spleen injury. “There are six rounds of Vijay Hazare Trophy scheduled between December 24 and the start of the New Zealand ODIs. It is up to the players and their state associations to decide which two rounds they would like to play,” a senior BCCI official told news agency PTI.

“But after the second T20I in Mullanpur, the players have been categorically told that playing Hazare isn’t optional,” he added.

Delhi’s squad for first two matches:

Rishabh Pant (capt), Ayush Badoni (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Arpit Rana, Yash Dhull, Sarthak Ranjan, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Singh (wk), Nitish Rana, Hrithik Shokeen, Harsh Tyagi, Simarjeet Singh, Prince Yadav, Divij Mehra, Ayush Doseja, Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Anuj Rawat (standby wicketkeeper)

*Harshit Rana will join the squad as and when he becomes available. 

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