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Rohit Sharma will make his Ranji Trophy return after last playing in the tournament in 2015.
Rohit Sharma averages 49.39 in first-class cricket. (PTI Photo)
Ending speculations over his Ranji Trophy participation, India Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma confirmed he will take part in the country’s top-flight red-ball competition. Rohit will be part of Mumbai’s playing XI for the fixture against Jammu Kashmir that starts from January 23.
“I will (play),” Rohit said on Saturday when quizzed over his participation.
Rohit, one of India’s finest batters of modern era, last played a Ranji match in November 2015.
He though explained that the reason behind India players not regularly featuring in domestic cricket is because of them needing time to recover from the packed international calendar.
“Last 6-7 years, if you look at our calendar, we haven’t been sitting home for 45 days when cricket is going on. You do get time when IPL finishes when nothing happens after that. Our domestic season begins in October, ends till March. Guys who are not playing all formats and when there’s domestic cricket happening, they can play,” Rohit said.
He added that no player takes domestic competitions for granted.
“For me personally, Since I’ve started playing Test cricket regularly since 2019, you hardly get time. When you play international cricket regularly, you need time off, just to refresh. Nobody takes it for granted,” Rohit explained.
The development comes after Rohit came under heavy criticism for his poor run with the bat during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Such was Rohit’s form that he himself opted out of the fifth and final Test of the tour. The 37-year-old managed just 31 runs in five innings during the series.
Recently, he trained with the Mumbai Ranji squad at the Wankhede Stadium. He faced the bowlers while batting alongside Ajinkya Rahane.
Besides Rohit, rising India star Yashasvi Jaiswal is also expected to be part of the fixture against J&K having informed team coach Omkar Salvi about his availability.
