Virat Kohli, who has retired from Tests and T20s, will play for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting December 24th, to further his ODI career. Virat last played in this domestic ODI tournament in 2010. Now playing only one format, Virat has been forced to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to extend his ODI career.

Virat, who is in Raipur for the ODI series against South Africa, called DDCA President Rohan Jaitley to inform him that he would play for Delhi. Delhi's first match will be against Andhra Pradesh on December 24th in either Bengaluru or Alur.

Three friends will play four matches

According to sources, Virat will play three or four matches for Delhi. Delhi's second match will be against Gujarat on December 26th and Saurashtra on December 29th. It is not yet decided whether these matches will be held in Alur or Bengaluru if Virat agrees. Sources also indicate that Rohit Sharma will play a few matches for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The Media had already reported that after the ODI series against Australia and South Africa, if Virat and Rohit want to continue their ODI career, they will have to play in the domestic series in this format.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar also want these two players to play in domestic tournaments. After the first ODI in Ranchi, selector Pragyan Ojha spoke with Virat for a long time at the airport. Ojha also spoke with Rohit in Ranchi. In fact, amid the heated atmosphere in the dressing room, Rohit is not communicating with Agarkar, and a similar situation exists between Virat and Gambhir. Pragyan has played cricket with both players and is a good friend of theirs, so he was sent to speak to them.

BCCI has a clear policy

Rohit last played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2018. Actually, the BCCI's stand is clear that if the players playing for the Indian team are not playing for the national team, then it is mandatory for them to play domestic cricket. Due to this stance, last year before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Virat Kohli played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi. Rohit also had to play a Ranji match. However, after this both were forced to retire from Tests. Before this, Virat had played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi against Uttar Pradesh in 2012.

 PC:Jagran