Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's return to the Vijay Hazare Trophy has hogged the limelight ahead of the start of the 50-over tournament on December 24. Both players have been named in squads of their state sides for the first two rounds of the tournament as India's international cricket entered a three-week gap.
Kohli will be part of the Delhi side in their tournament opener against Andhra, with the clash having been relocated from the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to the Centre of Excellence. The squad will be led by Rishabh Pant, with Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini also part of the squad for the opening two matches.
When did Kohli last play in Vijay Hazare Trophy?
Kohli will be returning to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the first time after 15 years. He last played in the tournament during the 2009/10 season, with his last game coming against Services in February 2010.
BCCI prez Manhas was Kohli's teammate during that game
Meanwhile, not many would know that the current BCCI president, Mithun Manhas, was Kohli's teammate during that game in Gurgaon, now known as Gurugram. Moreover, Manhas put up a brilliant performance with the bat during that game as he scored 148 from 154 balls with 10 fours and a six.
His knock helped Delhi ramp up 311/6 batting first. Rajat Bhatia also scored a half-century, scoring 56 from 72 deliveries. Shikhar Dhawan was also in the Playing XI as he opened the innings and scored 32 from 37 balls.
Delhi went on to win that game by a big margin of 113 runs. Chikara starred with the ball as he took four wickets in his eight overs for just 19 runs. Pawan Suyal, Bhatia and Vikas Mishra took two wickets each.
Here is Delhi's Playing XI in that game:
Shikhar Dhawan, Aditya Jain, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Virat Kohli, Joginder Singh, Punit Bisht, Chetanya Nanda, Pravesh Chikara, Pawan Suyal, Vikas Mishra
