ODI skipper Shubman Gill, world’s No. 1 T20 batter Abhishek Sharma and pacer Arshdeep Singh will play the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in line with the BCCI’s directive for mandatory participation in the national one-day championship.
T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube have also informed the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) that they will play two matches for Mumbai on January 6 and 8.
Former India captain Rohit Sharma is also expected to participate in two matches — against Sikkim on December 24 and versus Uttarakhand on December 26 in Jaipur. A call on whether Rohit will have any further part in the championship will be taken later.
Shardul Thakur is leading Mumbai in the tournament.
Punjab and Mumbai have been clubbed in the same group.
Virat Kohli too has been named in Delhi’s squad for the first two matches in Bengaluru. Rishabh Pant will lead the side and Ayush Badoni will be his deputy.
Delhi’s opening fixtures are against Andhra (December 24) and Gujarat (December 26). It isn’t clear how many matches Kohli and Pant would be available for since the three-match ODI series against New Zealand begins on January 11.
It is understood that the T20I players who featured in the recent 3-1 series win over South Africa have been asked to play at least two Vijay Hazare Trophy games. This was discussed during the recent selection committee meeting in Mumbai and all contracted players have been informed about it.
The first of the five T20Is against New Zealand is on January 21, before India launch their T20 World Cup campaign on February 7.
Shami to play
Mohammed Shami will be available for Bengal for their first three Vijay Hazare Trophy matches. Shami will be joining the squad in Rajkot on Tuesday, the eve of their Vijay Hazare opener against Vidarbha.
Alongside Shami, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar are likely to be the other two quicks, while either Aamir Gani or Vishal Bhati will accompany Shahbaz Ahmed as the second spinner.