Mumbai: Star Indian players and former captain Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Suryakumar Yadav will not play at least the first two matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as the selectors want to give a chance to young players in the Mumbai team. Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dubey will also not play in the initial matches.
Many big players including Rohit missing
“Rohit, Jaiswal, Dubey and even Rahane will not be part of the Mumbai team at least for the first two matches as the selection committee is going ahead with a young team,” Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil told PTI. He said:
Yashasvi is undergoing treatment for stomach problem and will recover soon. We thought that young players should be given a chance, but whenever they are available, they will be included in the team, but for the first two matches, we are experimenting with young players.
Tournament starts from 24th December
The elite division of the 50-over tournament will be held in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur and Bengaluru from December 24 to January 8, while the knockout matches from January 12 to 18 will be hosted by the ‘Centre of Excellence’ in Bengaluru.
Mumbai in Group C with many teams including Punjab
Mumbai has been placed in Group C along with Punjab, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Goa and Himachal Pradesh. Mumbai team will face Sikkim on 24th December, the first day of the tournament.
Virat Kohli will play for Delhi team
On the other hand, big names like Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant are all set to play Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi. The squad of Delhi team has not been announced yet. Delhi’s first match is against Odisha on 24 December, second on 26 December, third on 29 December and fourth on 31 December. Services on 3 January, Railways on 6 January and the last match on 8 January will be against Haryana. How many matches Virat will play is not known yet.
