Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are two of the most prominent players in the current era, both on and off the pitch. With the pair having retired from Test and T20I cricket, fans can only see them play in India’s One Day International (ODI) tournaments or the Indian Premier League (IPL).
However, Kohli and Rohit are still likely to play domestic cricket in the country. Last season, the duo played a few of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, and scored centuries.
With the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy just around the corner, can two of India’s finest batters of the 21st century compete against other well-known Indian stars?
Will Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma participate for the 2026 Duleep Trophy?
The basic answer to whether Kohli and Rohit will compete in the 2026 Duleep Trophy is NO. Fans will not witness the senior Indian batters in the competition, which starts on August 23.
With the Duleep Trophy being a First-Class competition, Kohli and Rohit have little to no reason to compete after retiring from Test cricket more than a year ago.
Kohli’s last First-Class game was in late January 2025, when he played for Delhi against Railways in a Ranji Trophy match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The right-handed batter scored only six runs in the first inning before being removed by Himanshu Sangwan.
Rohit, on the other hand, played his last First-Class encounter in the same event, representing Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC. He scored three in the first innings and 28 in the second before retiring from red-ball cricket permanently.
It’s worth noting that the West Zone squad was announced on Wednesday, July 29, and Rohit was not among them. Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad will command a team that includes Sarfaraz Khan, Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur, and Tushar Deshpande, among others.
When will Virat Kohli and Rohit take the pitch next?
Kohli and Rohit last played for India in the three-match ODI series against England. Despite losing the series, the pair performed well, with the latter becoming the first Indian batter to reach a century at Lord’s.
The next time fans will see the historic pair in Indian colours will be during the Men in Blue’s ODI series against the West Indies at home. The competition will begin on Sunday, September 27 at Thiruvananthapuram’s Greenfield International Stadium.
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