Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini will play in the first two matches of the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy as they have been named in Delhi’s squad.

Pant is the captain of the team, which was announced by the Delhi & District Cricket Association for the domestic tournament that starts on December 24.

Indian batters have made themselves available after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it mandatory for the players to compete in domestic cricket.

Virat Kohli has agreed to return to the domestic set up to prepare for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand, which starts on January 11.

The Board doesn’t want to give special treatment to Rohit Sharma and Virat. Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya have also been told to play at least two games for their sides.

Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from an injury, is likely to miss the matches. “The six rounds of the Vijay Hazare Trophy are scheduled between December 24 and first ODI against New Zealand. It is up to the associations and players to decide which two matches they would like to play, ” a senior BCCI official told news agency PTI.

“The players were informed that playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was not optional,” he added.

Delhi’s squad for first two matches

Rishabh Pant (capt), Ayush Badoni (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Arpit Rana, Yash Dhull, Sarthak Ranjan, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Singh (wk), Nitish Rana, Hrithik Shokeen, Harsh Tyagi, Simarjeet Singh, Prince Yadav, Divij Mehra, Ayush Doseja, Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Anuj Rawat (standby wicketkeeper).