Rohit Sharma Makes Special Appearance In Mumbai Vs HP Ranji Trophy Match

Former India captain Rohit Sharma made a special appearance at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground nets during the Lunch break in the Ranji Trophy clash between Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh. Dressed in a blue shirt, shorts, and a black cap, the 38-year-old was spotted mingling with some of his former teammates and doing light sprints outside the nets under the afternoon sun.

He looked lean as ever, having recently lost several kgs after an intense many months-long training program with former national assistant coach Abhishek Nayar.

Rohit played for Mumbai in the last Ranji Trophy season. Asked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to feature in domestic matches when not busy with international cricket, he played against Jammu and Kashmir

in January, scoring 3 (19) and 28 (35) in the two innings as Mumbai suffered a rare, huge loss. He has since retired from Test cricket and is unlikely to feature in red-ball domestic matches either.

Rohit’s focus remains sharply on the 2027 ODI World Cup. He recently featured in a three-ODI series in Australia and won Player of the Series for an excellent showing, which included a match-winning century in the last match. He’ll next feature in India’s three-match home ODI series against South Africa, starting on November 30.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has sent a clear message by removing him from ODI captaincy: as he’d be 40 by the time the 2027 World Cup begins in South Africa, Rohit will need to show his merit to be in that squad, even though he’d have some leeway thanks to his legacy as one of the best to ever play in the 50-over format.

It was interesting to see that he and long-time partner Virat Kohli, who’s in the same boat regarding the World Cup, did not get into the India ‘A’ squad for the three-match List-A series against South Africa ‘A’. As they are not playing any other format, it would have given them some much-needed match practice.

India A squad for one-day series against South Africa A: Tilak Varma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Prabhsimran Singh (WK)