A few days are left for the upcoming season of Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) to start. Fans are eagerly waiting for this List-A tournament of Indian domestic cricket, because legends like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are also going to play in it. Kohli has been selected in the Delhi team captained by Rishabh Pant. He is certain to play in the first two matches.

On the other hand, Rohit has been included in Mumbai’s squad for the first two matches but he is not likely to play. Rohit is available for subsequent matches. Let us tell you that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Selection Committee have told all the players with central contracts that they will have to play at least two matches in the VHT 2025-26 season. That is why the presence of star players has increased in the tournament.

Gill-Abhishek’s magic will also be visible

Shubman Gill, who was dropped from the T20 World Cup team, will also be seen playing in VHT. He has been kept in the squad of Punjab. Along with him, stars like Abhishek Sharma and Arshdeep Singh are also included in the team. It is not clear yet how many matches the trio of Gill-Abhishek and Arshdeep will play for VHT.

Ishan Kishan, who recently made Jharkhand the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champion, will also captain the team in VHT. KL Rahul and Prasidh Krishna have been included in the Karnataka team captained by Mayank Agarwal. On the other hand, Sanju Samson will also play for the Kerala team.

ODI series from 11th January

The Indian team will play a 3-match ODI series with New Zealand next year, which will start from January 11 in Vadodara. After playing two matches each in VHT, Kohli and Rohit will start preparing for this series. Kohli will play VHT for the first time since 2010. Rohit last played in this tournament in 2018. Apart from Kohli and Rohit, all the potential players of the ODI team have a golden opportunity to show their form in VHT.

These star players will play in VHT

• Virat Kohli (Delhi)


• Rohit Sharma (Mumbai)


• Shubhman Gill (Punjab)


• Rishabh Pant (Delhi)


• KL Rahul (Karnataka)


• Abhishek Sharma (Punjab)


• Ruturaj Gaikwad (Maharashtra)


• Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand)


• Sanju Samson (Kerala)


• Arshdeep Singh (Punjab)


• Mohammed Shami (Bengal)


• Mayank Agarwal (Karnataka)


• Sarfaraj Khan (Mumbai)


• Akash Deep (Bengal)


• Harshit Rana (Delhi)


• Dhruv Jurel (UP)


• Karun Nair (Karnataka)


• Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka)


• Eshant Sharma (Dalil)


• Rinku Singh (UP)

Elite Group-A

Karnataka, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry

Elite Group-B

Vidarbha, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Baroda, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bengal, Assam

Elite Group-C

Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Mumbai, Goa

Elite Group-D

Haryana, Andhra, Odisha, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Services, Railways, Delhi