NEW DELHI: Star India dough Virat Kohli is likely to represent Delhi in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Railways at the BCCI Center of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru on January 6, DDCA president Rohan Jaitley told PTI on Monday. While the BCCI has mandated centrally contracted players to feature in at least two matches, Kohli has opted to play a third match as part of his preparation for the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
“As of now, he is playing. Virat has declared his availability for three matches,” Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley told PTI.Kohli was in top form in his first two outings for Delhi, scoring 131 and 77 respectively. During the second innings, he also etched his name in the record books by becoming the fastest batsman to reach 16,000 List A runs, reaching the milestone in his 330th innings. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar, who took 391 innings to get there.According to a BCCI source, there is a possibility that Kohli could report a day early to start training even though the Indian ODI squad for the New Zealand series is scheduled to assemble in Vadodara by January 8.The three-match ODI series against the Black Caps will begin on January 11 at the same venue.Now, as already reported by PTI, a senior all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be rested from the ODI series as per the workload management plans drawn up by the sports science team. Both players are expected to play an important role for India in the home T20 World Cup, which begins on February 7.
