According to DDCA president Rohan Jaitley, Virat Kohli on Tuesday confirmed his availability to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning on December 24.
Kohli, now a one format player and currently busy with the ODI series against South Africa, is back to the Hazare Trophy for the first time since participating against Services in February 2010.
Despite just playing one version of the game, the 37-year-old demonstrated his continued skill by scoring his 52nd ODI century in the series opener in Ranchi.
Kohli’s last T20 International coincided with India’s success in the 2024 World Cup in Barbados and he retired from Tests earlier this year.
“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 said.
On December 24, Delhi will begin their Vijay Hazare campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru. In total, they will play six games. Group D includes Delhi, Andhra, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Odisha, Services, Railways, and Haryana.
The BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Alur, a location on the outskirts of Bengaluru, are the current locations for the league games.
Although the Chinnaswamy Stadium is on the list, it remains unclear whether it will host any matches, as top-level cricket has yet to return there following the June 4 stampede that killed 11 fans during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL title victory celebrations.
The knockout matches, including the final, are set to be played at the BCCI CoE grounds. However, since Kohli is scheduled to participate in India’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand from January 11 to 18, 2026, he will not be included in the knockout stages should Delhi advance that far.
When Kohli turns out, a large number of spectators are expected to watch him play. Earlier this year, Kohli produced a spectacular spectacle of an otherwise dreary Ranji Trophy game when he played his first first-class match in more than 12 years. In numbers unheard of for a domestic fixture in a long while, more than 12,000 people came to watch him play.
In an unexpected move, Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket prior to the England tour, even though he had returned to the Ranji Trophy as part of his preparation for international duty.
Unless they are injured or serving their country, contracted cricket players are required by the BCCI to play domestic cricket.
Rohit Sharma, who also retired from Tests before the England tour, is expected to turn out for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Both Kohli and Rohit were among the runs in the series opener against South Africa in Ranchi, having played their first international cricket in months during the tour of Australia last month.
In the third and final ODI, Kohli scored a half-century after failing to score a run in the first two matches in Australia. Rohit had struck a hundred in the same game that was played in Sydney.
