Rohit Sharma to play in Ranji Trophy for 1st time in nearly a decade as Mumbai faces J&K; check full squad

India captain Rohit Sharma will play in a Ranji Trophy match for the first time in nearly a decade, as he and rising star Yashasvi Jaiswal were named in Mumbai's squad for their upcoming fixture against Jammu and Kashmir, starting January 23 at the MCA-BKC Ground.

Sunita Iyer

Published: Jan 20, 2025, 5:10 PM IST

Ajinkya Rahane will continue to lead the team, as confirmed by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in their squad announcement on Monday.

Rohit confirmed his participation in the next Ranji Trophy match during a press conference on Saturday, where India's squads for the limited-overs series against England and the Champions Trophy were revealed. When asked about playing in the domestic match, Rohit simply stated, "I will."

Recently, there has been growing concern over Rohit Sharma's form in Test cricket, following a string of disappointing performances in his last eight matches, including against New Zealand at home and Australia during their recent tour.

Rohit attended a Mumbai training session on January 15, as it became evident after the team's poor showing in Australia that the BCCI has made it mandatory for all contracted players to feature in domestic cricket, barring fitness issues.

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Shortly after, Yashasvi Jaiswal joined the Mumbai camp at BKC, taking part in several batting sessions with his domestic team.

Rohit had previously cited his busy schedule with the national team as a reason for not playing in domestic cricket.

"(In) the last 6-7 years, I can at least tell about what has happened with me since I've started playing Test cricket regularly, which is from 2019, you hardly have any time (in hand)," he told media.

"And then, when you play so much international cricket through the year, you need some time off as well as a cricketer just to refresh, get your mind right, just to be ready for the upcoming season," he added.

"But we have addressed it now and nobody takes it for granted or anything like that. It is just based on looking at how one has gone through the season, how much rest he needs. Based on all of that, we decide what is going to happen with certain players. Now it's been made mandatory that if there is time, you have to play domestic cricket,” he further stated.

Mumbai squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ayush Mhatre, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Hardik Tamore (wk), Akash Anand (wk), Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Awasthi, Sylvester Dsouza, Royston Dias, Karsh Kothari.

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