The last time when Virat Kohli played a List A game that was not an ODI was in 2013. Rohit Sharma’s last Vijay Hazare Trophy match was seven years ago. Now, on the wrong side of thirty and being reduced to one-format players, the Indian team management and the selection committee felt that Rohit and Kohli must play domestic cricket to retain their match sharpness.
Forget that Rohit had returned from the ODI series in Australia bagging the Player of the Series award and Kohli secured it in the home ODI series against South Africa without any game time in domestic cricket to prepare them for the challenges. But the Vijay Hazare Trophy, play they must. The two titans of Indian cricket said ‘fine’, went to play for their respective domestic sides, and on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy this term, they wowed the fans with majestic centuries. A double whammy to start with, what more the fans could have asked for?
In Jaipur, Rohit scored 156 off 94 balls in Mumbai’s eight-wicket win against Sikkim. Batting first, Sikkim posted a pretty respectable 236/7 in 50 overs, with Ashish Thapa making 79 off 87 deliveries. Shardul Thakur was the most successful bowler for Mumbai, claiming 2/19 in six overs.
Mumbai opened with Rohit and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Nearly 12,000 spectators turned up at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, and from their perspective, Raghuvanshi was peripheral. The youngster, in fact, had the box seat, as Rohit blazed away to match David Warner. Both now have nine 150-plus scores in the 50-over format. At 38 years and 238 days, Rohit also became the second oldest after Bengal’s Anustup Majumdar to score a century in a Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture. His innings had 18 fours and 9 sixes.
Irrespective of his participation in matches, Rohit has always been a part of this Mumbai team. This season also, during Mumbai’s home Ranji Trophy fixtures, he was turning up at BKC to spend time with the boys and support staff. Deep down, the former India captain remains a Maidan boy who still goes to Shivaji Park for nets sessions. As Shardul, the Mumbai captain, had said yesterday, Rohit has been an integral part of the squad.
About 1,000 miles off at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bangalore, Kohli played his Vijay Hazare Trophy game behind closed doors and waltzed to 131 off 101 balls in Delhi’s four-wicket win over Andhra. In the process, he went past Sachin Tendulkar to become the fastest (330 innings) to 16,000 runs in List A cricket. Tendulkar did it in 391 innings.
Moral of the story: Rohit and Kohli will score centuries for fun at this level.
Follow Revsportz for latest sports news
