Virat Kohli's U-Turn After Refusing To Play Vijay Hazare Trophy, BCCI Selectors Manage To Convince Him

Virat Kohli on Tuesday confirmed his availability to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, beginning on December 24, after initially refusing to participate in the domestic tournament. India coach Gautam Gambhir has laid down the condition that any player who wants to compete for the national team must play domestic cricket. A source informed NDTV on Tuesday that while Rohit Sharma has already confirmed his availability to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, Kohli had earlier declined to take part in the one-day tournament.
"The issue is with the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He (Kohli) simply doesn't want to play. When Rohit [Sharma] is also playing, how can there be an exception for one player? And what do we tell the other players? That someone is different from all of you?" the source had told NDTV early on Tuesday.
However, the BCCI selectors have now convinced Kohli to play a few Vijay Hazare Trophy matches.
Kohli, now a one-format player for India, is currently busy with the ODI series against South Africa. After the ODIs, he will return to London, where his family resides, and then come back for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He is returning to the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the first time since appearing against Services in February 2010.
The 37-year-old racked up his 52nd hundred in the series opener at Ranchi, showing he remains as sharp as ever despite playing just one version of the game, having announced his retirement from Tests earlier this year.
Kohli had retired from T20 Internationals following 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 is not clear yet. Obviously, his presence will be a massive boost to the Delhi dressing room," Jaitley told PTI.
Delhi will open their Vijay Hazare campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru on December 24. In total, they will play six games.
Fans are expected to turn up in large numbers to watch the action when Kohli is around. Earlier this year, Kohli turned an otherwise drab Ranji Trophy game into a grand spectacle when he played his first first-class match in more than 12 years.
More than 12,000 people came to watch Kohli play-numbers unheard of for a domestic fixture in a long while.
He returned to the Ranji Trophy as part of his preparation for international duty but, in a surprise decision, announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the England tour.
The BCCI has made playing domestic cricket mandatory for contracted cricketers unless they are injured or on national duty.
Rohit Sharma, who also retired from Tests ahead of the England tour, is expected to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Both Kohli and Rohit were among the runs in the series opener against the Proteas in Ranchi. They played their first international game in months during the tour of Australia last month.
After failing to score in the first two games Down Under, Kohli found his groove with a half-century in the third and final ODI. Rohit smashed a hundred in the same game held in Sydney.
With PTI inputs