"It wasn’t happening for many years" - Former India all-rounder reacts to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's return to domestic cricket

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan is delighted to see the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning to domestic cricket. Asserting that playing with and against such big names would be great for youngsters, he expressed hope that the current Indian stars would make it a trend to play domestic cricket.

Last year, the BCCI had reportedly issued a diktat to players to feature in domestic matches unless they were on national duty or unavailable due to injury. Following Team India's 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, head coach Gautam Gambhir had also urged players to play domestic cricket.

Apart from Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant featured in the previous round of Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Kohli and KL Rahul are representing their respective teams in the ongoing round, which began on Thursday, January 30. Thousands of fans gathered to watch Kohli in action for Delhi against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Reacting to Team India's featuring in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season, former India all-rounder Pathan took to his X handle and wrote:

"It’s great to see youngsters playing with or against players like Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma in domestic cricket. It wasn’t happening for many years, but it’s happening now. This is fantastic for Indian cricket. Hope the current Indian regulars make it a trend to play domestic cricket."

While Kohli did not get to bat against Railways on Day 1 of Delhi's Ranji Trophy 2024-25 clash, he kept the crowd entertained by interacting with them and acknowledging their support. On the other hand, Rahul was dismissed for 26 of 37 balls in Karnataka's clash against Haryana in Bengaluru.

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How Rohit, Jaiswal, Pant and Gill fared in the previous round of Ranji Trophy 2024-25

Rohit's attempt to return to form by turning out for Mumbai against Jammu & Kashmir did not yield the desired results. He was dismissed for 3 & 28 in his first Ranji Trophy match since 2015. Jaiswal registered scores of 4 & 26 in the same contest as Mumbai went down to J&K by five wickets.

There were high expectations from keeper-batter Pant, but he too disappointed while representing Delhi against Saurashtra. The left-handed batter registered scores of 1 & 17 respectively. In contrast, Gill scored a hundred in the second innings even as Punjab went down to Karnataka by an innings and 207 runs.