Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has raised concerns over top players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma participating in only one Ranji Trophy match before leaving the tournament. He pointed out that while Virat Kohli is playing in the ongoing round, others like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant have opted out. While Virat Kohli and other India Test regulars have played in this round of the Ranji Trophy, only Ravindra Jadeja is playing in both matches for his team.
Virat Kohli returning to the Ranji Trophy has become a bit of a watershed moment already with a record number of spectators seen at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. However, former India opener Aakash Chopra has said that Virat Kohli and other Test regulars seem to be treating the domestic first class tournament.
India’s batting decline in Test cricket -A reason for the International stars to return to domestic cricket
India have missed out on the World Test Championship Final for the first time after a rather disastrous run in the 2024/25 season. They lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade 3-1 but more shockingly this was preceded by an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash at home to New Zealand. India had never been whitewashed in a three-match Test series at home and New Zealand had won never won a Test series on tour in India. It also marked the end of a record-breaking dominant run for India in home Tests.
A sharp decline in the fortunes of India’s batters were a characteristic of the team’s form and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were at the centre of it finishing the 2024/25 season with the kind of averages that no one would’ve associated with them at their peak. Virat Kohli averaged 22.47 in 19 Test innings in the 2024/25 season, despite scoring a century in the first Test against Australia in Perth. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, cut a sorry figure throughout the season and finished it with a scarcely believable average of 10.93 in a whopping 15 innings.
Ravindra Jadeja features in both matches for Saurashtra
Aakash Chopra emphasized that apart from Ravindra Jadeja, all senior Indian players who played the January 23 matches are now missing the ongoing round. This includes big names such as Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.
Unlike his peers, Ravindra Jadeja has made his presence felt across two rounds. He stood tall in Saurashtra’s massive win over Delhi, taking 12 scalps and scoring a vital 38-run knock. He is now featuring in his side’s ongoing clash against Assam. On Day 1, Saurashtra are well placed with 361/3 in 90 overs.
Rohit Sharma suffered twin failures in Ranji Trophy appearance
Earlier, Sharma didn’t enjoy a return to the Ranji Trophy as he would have hoped for. The Indian captain, battling poor form in Tests, managed three runs from 19 balls on Day 1 against Jammu & Kashmir in the previous round. He scored 28 in Mumbai’s 2nd innings on Day 2 at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC, Mumbai. Notably, Mumbai lost the clash against J&K.
KL Rahul dismissed for 26 on Ranji Trophy return
Star Indian batter KL Rahul returned to the Ranji Trophy after a gap of two years. The 32-year-old returned to action for Karnataka against Haryana in the ongoing round at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He was dismissed for 26 off 37 balls in the first innings.
Former Indian cricketer and current commentator, Aakash Chopra, has expressed his disappointment over senior players’ participation in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. He noted that a lot of these players have only played one match before pulling out of the next ones.
The trend was seen in the first week of matches starting January 23, with many big names now missing from the second week’s lineup starting January 30.
Ex-Opener Aakash Chopra Slams India Seniors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma For Playing 1 Ranji Trophy Match Each
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has equated senior Indian men’s regulars’ feature in only one 2025 Ranji Trophy match each to ‘marking attendance and leaving’. He called it a ‘token’ effort, like taking punishment, and felt that playing domestic cricket should be seen as a ‘privilege’ instead.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cracked a whip on the senior players by releasing new rules, advising them to play domestic cricket whenever they can. Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant all played in the first round after the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and missed the next, currently ongoing matches. The latter are being played by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who missed the last round.
“Virat Kohli is playing, but many others are not, like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shreyas Iyer. Ultimately, all the players have played their token Ranji Trophy match, marked their attendance and left,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“Virat Kohli hadn’t played that round, so he is playing now. What does it tell you? This (playing Ranji Trophy) was a bit of a punishment posting. But playing first-class cricket shouldn’t be a punishment, it should be a privilege,” he added.
Ravindra Jadeja is the only senior who has featured in both games for Saurashtra.
Virat Kohli has fallen behind Smith: Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra also spoke about Kohli’s lack of recent international returns in comparison to his counterparts like Steve Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson. He used a metric of centuries per number of innings played.
“Smith has scored a century (against Sri Lanka). He has struck his 35th century in just 205 innings. Root has scored 36 hundreds but he has played 278 innings. So if you look at it in terms of the strike rate, the number of innings he takes to score a century, then Steve Smith is ahead of Joe Root. However, Kane Williamson has played only 186 innings and has scored 33 hundreds. His strike rate is better than those two,” Aakash Chopra said.
“If I see Virat Kohli here, he has played 210 innings, which means he has played five more innings than Steve Smith and has five centuries fewer than him. So Virat Kohli, unfortunately, now has the least strike rate because he has scored only three centuries in the last five years,” he added.
Over 15,000 cricket fans gathered at Arun Jaitley Stadium to watch Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji Trophy. The former Indian captain is playing against Railways, his first First-Class appearance for the first time since 2012. The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) had previously allowed free entry for the public through two gates leading to the Gautam Gambhir stand. The match was also briefly halted when a fan invaded the pitch and ran towards Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli will bat in the Ranji Trophy for the first time in almost 13 years on Friday.