Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli to feature in Ranji Trophy

India captain Rohit Sharma will turn out for Mumbai in the next round of Ranji Trophy fixture – against Jammu & Kashmir. This match begins on January 23. He last featured in the Ranji Trophy all the way back in November 2015.

Virat Kohli meanwhile, has made himself available for Delhi’s next contest for Delhi – against Railways – from January 30. If the Ranji return does transpire for Kohli, he will have a very short turnaround time to make the mental and technical switch from first-class cricket to the first ODI at home against England, with the series carrying great significance as it is India’s eventual ODI assignment ahead of the Champions Trophy.

India experienced a woeful run of form in the recently-concluded Test season that resulted in them missing out on the World Test Championship final for the first time and at the centre of the meltdown was the poor form of experienced campaigners. While Kohli scored just 282 runs in 18 knocks if you take out his century in the Perth Test against Australia, Rohit was able to muster only 164 runs in 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with a single half-century to his name.

Rohit’s position as Test captain has also come under the microscope with India losing five of the last six Tests in which he marshalled the troops. This included an ignominious 3-0 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand at home which ended India’s phenomenal winning streak in their own den. Unable to contribute to the team’s cause with the bat, Rohit ended up dropping himself for the last Test of the series against Australia, which India lost by six wickets as they conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.