In a bid to give himself as many games as possible before the Australia tour, Rohit Sharma has decided to turn up for Mumbai in the knockout stages of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The quarterfinals against Bihar on October 14 in Alur, Bangalore will be Rohit’s first assignment for Mumbai and if they manage to beat the Plate group toppers then Rohit will get another game in the semi-finals on October 17 with an eye on the finals on October 19 before the first ODI against West Indies two days later.
Mumbai will announce their squad for the knock out stages of Vijay Hazare on Wednesday with Rohit a certainty in it. However, the man who led India to their record seventh Asia Cup title 10 days ago will not lead Mumbai.
“Rohit will play for us in the knockouts, the team will be led by Shreyas Iyer, who captained Mumbai in the last two games of the group stages,” MCA chief selector Ajit Agarkar told TOI.
Rohit's decision to play Vijay Hazare is a welcome move when a lot of other top Indian cricketers including former captain MS Dhoni deciding to give the tournament a miss. The Indian vice-captain’s move to play for Mumbai is believed to have been triggered by the Test snub for the West Indies series.
Rohit wants to play as many as matches as possible before the Australia tour to make a solid case for himself for the middle-order’s slot.
Mumbai, on the other hand, will be delighted to have Rohit’s services when Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw will be busy playing the second Test match against West Indies.
Mumbai coach Vinayak Samat was delighted to have Rohit back. “It’s good to have a high-class international player like Rohit. He’s an ODI specialist and will make a huge difference to the team,” Samant said.
Mumbai finished on top of Group A with six wins from eight games.