All eyes on Rohit, Virat at Vijay Hazare Trophy

The charismatic presence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma alongside a host of top India cricketers lends unprecedented gravitas to the Vijay Hazare One-Day Trophy beginning on Wednesday, giving all of them a chance to prove a point amid a renewed focus on domestic grind.

The velvety tapestry of superstars also features Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma among others, but none attracts as much attention as Kohli and Rohit. Their appearance has a direct link to the BCCI's decision of making at least two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches mandatory for India cricketers.

But in case of Kohli, who is playing in this tournament after 15 years, and Rohit, it is a sharp reminder that they are no longer immune to the evolving power equations within Indian cricket. The celebrated pair remain the biggest current stars of the game, but that status can't mask the reality that both cricket and time have entered the freeway. But watching that gradual unfolding of struggle itself is fascinating.

Rohit has made it clear that he will play the first two matches of Mumbai against Sikkim and Uttarakhand in Jaipur on December 24 and 26. Kohli, who has been training with former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar in Mumbai, has not yet decided as to which two or three matches he will play for Delhi.

Delhi will open their Elite Group D campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) after the Karnataka government denied permission to hold matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, citing security reasons, following which they will face Gujarat.

Since his arrival in Bengaluru on Tuesday night, assumptions are being made that the star batsman will play those two matches. Both Kohli and Rohit still have the power to choose their games, but what they don't seem to have is the power to choose their destiny.

An underwhelming outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy will not have a say in their selection for the ODIs against New Zealand next month, but more than anyone else, Kohli and Rohit would also know that the space around them is shrinking. They know that younger names are breathing down their necks. How long can they resist the weight of domestic runs scored by a rising star? There are plenty of them too in the likes of Yash Dhull or R Smaran.

The recent omission of Gill from India's T20 World Cup squad and the inclusion of Ishan Kishan on the back of a stellar Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a grim pointer to what might happen with Kohli and Rohit if runs don't flow easily from their bats.

If the selectors can drop Gill, the current high-value property in Indian cricket, because of combination compulsions, not many will be spared. So, for Kohli and Rohit, this is a battle with themselves to find the inner fire in the modest surroundings of a domestic event, as much as it is against a tight circling younger generation of players.