Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma returned to action on Wednesday on the opening day of the 2025/26 Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, due to broadcast limitations imposed by the BCCI for the domestic tournament, neither match was televised or made available for live streaming. Compounding matters, Kohli’s Delhi fixture against Andhra Pradesh in Bengaluru was played behind closed doors. While the BCCI later released highlight packages of both centuries, the poor video quality of the clips left fans on social media unimpressed.
Kohli was in action at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Playing his first Vijay Hazare Trophy match in nearly 15 years, the former India captain produced a classy 131 off 101 balls, striking 14 fours and three sixes. In the process, he completed 1,000 List A runs for Delhi in just his 17th innings and became the fastest batter in history to reach 16,000 List A runs, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar.
Rohit, meanwhile, lit up a packed Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur with a blistering 155 not out off 94 balls, featuring 18 fours and nine sixes, as Mumbai chased down 237 against Sikkim with almost 20 overs to spare and eight wickets in hand. The 38-year-old, playing in the domestic tournament for the first time since 2018, brought up his 37th List A century in just 62 balls and went on to convert it into a daddy hundred, registering his sixth 150-plus score in List A cricket.
Despite the two headline-making knocks, the BCCI was unable to broadcast either match, with only fixtures in Ahmedabad and Rajkot available for live telecast and streaming. To cater to the surge in fan interest, the board released highlight packages of both centuries on its ‘BCCI Domestic’ handle on X. However, the poor video quality of the clips left fans on social media fuming.
Rohit and Kohli have returned to domestic cricket in line with a BCCI directive aimed at ensuring players remain match-ready and sharp. The move comes as the senior batters look to carry forward the momentum from a successful home series against South Africa and an impressive overall year in ODIs. Both are expected to feature in one more domestic match before rejoining the national side for the upcoming home series against New Zealand next month.
The ‘Ro-Ko’ duo also finished the year as India’s leading run-scorers in the ODI format. Kohli topped the charts with 651 runs from 13 matches at an average of 65.10, striking three centuries and four half-centuries at a strike rate of over 96, with a highest score of 135. Rohit followed closely with 650 runs from 14 innings, averaging 50.00 and scoring at a strike rate north of 100, with two hundreds, four fifties and a best of 121 not out.
