MUMBAI: Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil has made it clear that he is yet to hear from
Rohit Sharma, amidst reports that the former India captain is set to make himself available for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“I have not received any message from Rohit Sharma yet. But if he plays for Mumbai, it will be good for us. It will be a good thing for the youngsters. I really appreciate this great step by the
BCCI, Ajit Agarkar (chief selector) and Gautam Gambhir (India head coach) (of asking India players to turn out for their teams in domestic cricket when available),” Patil told TOI on Wednesday. Another senior Mumbai Cricket Association official too said that he did not have any formal communication in this regard from the veteran batting superstar.
However, the fact that Rohit trained at the MCA-BKC ground for nearly an hour last week, when Mumbai were playing their home Ranji Trophy game against Himachal Pradesh, is a good enough indication that Rohit will want to play some competitive cricket when he can.
The group stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy will be held between Dec 24, 2025 and January 8, 2026. Mumbai have been placed in Elite Group C, alongside Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Goa and will play their matches in Jaipur. The three-match ODI series against South Africa will be held from Dec 3-9, while the next one against New Zealand will take place from Jan 11 – both at home.
Earlier this year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had made it compulsory that all the India players must feature in domestic cricket, when not on national duty and not injured or recuperating at the Centre of Excellence (CoE). As a result of that BCCI directive, Rohit and Virat Kohli both featured in a Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai and Delhi, respectively. However, the two greats now only play in the ODI format for India.
Kotian, Awasthi return to Mumbai squadMeanwhile, in a big boost for Mumbai, off-spinner Tanush Kotian and seamer Mohit Sawasthi are set to return to Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy team against Pondicherry at the Wankhede Stadium from Nov 16. Kotian missed Mumbai's last two matches as he was busy turning out for India A against South Africa A at the BCCI's CoE-he took eight wickets (4-83 & 4-26) in the first of the two ‘tests’ of that series. In a significant development, also returning to action after a long lay-off due to injury is seamer Mohit Awasthi, who last played for Mumbai in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy semifinal against Vidarbha at Nagpur in Feb this year. The 32-year-old has taken 99 wickets in 31 first-class matches.
Off-spinner Himanshu Singh, who was drafted in Kotian's place and took three for 26 in the first innings against Himachal, and seamer Irfan Umair have been excluded from the squad.
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