Pioneered by former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, the Indian board has been hell-bent on ensuring that all centrally contracted players participate in domestic cricket. The current selection committee and team management have repeatedly reiterated the importance of the domestic circuit and the role it plays in rewarding Indian cricket.
Every Vijay Hazare Trophy season, India’s premier domestic List A tournament, throws up a familiar question alongside a flood of standout performances: do domestic runs still open the doors to Team India, or are they merely a footnote in the BCCI’s long-term planning?
This season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy carries added significance. With the T20 World Cup concluding in March next year, India are set to shift their focus to the least-played format, ODIs, in preparation for the 2027 World Cup.
For some, like Karun Nair, prolific domestic performances have counted for little, with selectors maintaining there is “no space” in an already settled core. For others, like Ishan Kishan, sustained form eventually triggered a sudden change of plans, albeit in the T20 format, leading to an unexpected call-up.
As India begin shaping their roadmap to the 2027 ODI World Cup, the Vijay Hazare Trophy once again finds itself at the centre of a familiar selection paradox: promise, patience and opportunity rarely moving in sync.
Since their Champions Trophy triumph in March, India played their first ODI only in October, marking the formal start of preparations for the 2027 World Cup. Across the two series that followed, three matches in Australia and three at home against South Africa, the selectors have identified a core pool of 19 players, with Shubman Gill leading the side and Shreyas Iyer named his deputy.
Eleven of those players, including senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, featured in both squads. Gill and Iyer missed the South Africa series due to injuries, while six others were part of only one of the two tours. Two other mainstays in the format, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, were rested for both series as part of workload management and injury concerns, and are expected to return when India resume their ODI World Cup build-up during the England tour in the summer of 2026.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee are now expected to pick 15 names from this group of 19 for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand. There remains scope for fresh additions based on early performances in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, a platform that could allow fringe contenders to make an immediate impression and complicate selection calls in the series to follow. For some, the reward could extend beyond a call-up, potentially shaping their World Cup prospects.
Fresh off his T20 World Cup recall, Ishan Kishan struck a century in his Vijay Hazare Trophy opener. In the same match, Devdutt Padikkal produced a defining knock of his own, scoring a hundred as Karnataka scripted a record chase of 413. He followed it up with another century in his next outing, while Karun Nair also reached three figures in that game. Rinku Singh, meanwhile, has quietly piled on runs, beginning with a brisk 67 off 48 balls before smashing a 56-ball 106 in his second match.
None of these players currently feature in India’s ODI World Cup plans, but sustained consistency in the format makes a compelling case for their inclusion. Yet, domestic performances do not always translate into immediate rewards. Nair was the standout performer last season, amassing a record-breaking 779 runs in eight innings at an astonishing average of 389.5, including six centuries. The timing of his run coincided with India’s search for a settled Champions Trophy squad, forcing the selectors to acknowledge his numbers. Still, he was overlooked.
Explaining the call, Agarkar said: “Averaging 750-plus is insane, but only 15 spots are available and you can’t fit everyone.”
Nair’s opportunity eventually came in Test cricket, after Kohli’s retirement created a vacancy, though it lasted just one series. Padikkal, too, continues to wait for an ODI debut despite an overwhelming List A record. He has four centuries in his last six List A matches and has failed to cross fifty only once in his previous 10 innings. Overall, he has scored 2,342 runs in 34 innings at an average of 83.64, with 11 hundreds and 12 half-centuries.
By contrast, a change in direction opened the door for Ishan’s return to the national setup. The wicketkeeper-batter was consistent with his domestic performances, but was not in immediate contention until the BCCI revisited its T20 World Cup plans around Gill and opted for a top-order keeper-batter, creating space for both Sanju Samson and Ishan. A similar late turn of events benefitted Varun Chakaravarthy, the third-highest wicket-taker in last season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, who was added to the squad on the eve of the ODI series against England and stayed on. He would go on to finish as the second-highest wicket-taker during India’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign.
As India are expected to turn their focus on the ODI World Cup after the ICC T20 event, the Vijay Hazare Trophy will remain both an audition stage and a contradiction. Performances will be monitored, praised and debated, yet selection will eventually hinge on timing rather than volume of runs. The BCCI’s insistence on domestic cricket being the pathway is genuine, but its rewards remain inconsistent. Nair’s numbers demanded selection but found no vacancy; Kishan’s recall came when plans abruptly shifted. Between certainty and circumstance lies the truth of Indian selection, domestic cricket opens doors, but only when the locks are ready to turn. For Vijay Hazare performers, the message is clear: score big, stay patient, and hope opportunity arrives before form fades.
