Virat Kohli confirms his availability for Vijay Hazare Trophy

Indian superstar Virat Kohli on Tuesday confirmed his availability to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning on December 24, DDCA president Rohan Jaitley told PTI.

Kohli, now a one-format player, is currently busy with the ODI series against South Africa. Kohli is returning to the Hazare Trophy for the first time since appearing against Services in February 2010.

The 37-year-old racked up his 52nd ODI hundred in the series opener at Ranchi, showing he remains sharp as ever despite playing just one version of the game. Kohli retired from Tests earlier this year, while his last T20 International coincided with India's triumph in the 2024 World Cup in Barbados.

"He has confirmed his availability to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. How many games he will feature in, that is not clear yet. Obviously, him being around will be a massive boost to the Delhi dressing room," Jaitley told PTI.

Delhi open their Vijay Hazare campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru on December 24. In total, they will play six games. Delhi are placed in Group D along with Andhra, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Odisha, Services, Railways and Haryana.

The league matches are currently scheduled to be played at Alur, a venue on the outskirts of Bengaluru, M Chinnaswamy Stadium and the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds, close to the airport. Though the Chinnaswamy Stadium is listed, it’s not clear whether any matches will be held there because top-level cricket has not returned to the venue after the June 4 stampede in which 11 fans were killed as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru celebrations went awry.

The knockout matches, including the final, are scheduled to be played in the BCCI CoE grounds. However, Kohli will not be part of the knockouts should Delhi reach that far as he is set to play in India’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand between January 11 and 18, 2026. Fans are expected to turn up in numbers to watch the action at the ground when Kohli is around.

Earlier this year, Kohli made a grand spectacle of an otherwise drab Ranji Trophy game when he played his first first-class match in more than 12 years. More than 12000 people came to watch Kohli play, numbers unheard of for a domestic fixture in a long while. He returned to Ranji Trophy as part of preparation for international duty but in a surprise decision, he announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the England tour.

BCCI has made playing domestic cricket mandatory for contracted cricketers unless they are injured or on national duty. Rohit Sharma, who too retired from Tests ahead of the England tour, is expected to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Both Kohli and Rohit were amongst the runs in the series opener against Proteas in Ranchi. They played their first international game in months during the tour of Australia last month.

After failing to score a run in the first two games Down Under, Kohli got into the groove with a half-century in the third and final ODI. Rohit had smashed a hundred in the same game held in Sydney.