Rohit Sharma fell for a golden duck while Virat Kohli scored 77 in 61 balls. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras and PTI)
It is a case of hit and miss thus far for Rohit Sharma as he fell for a golden duck in his second Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025/26 match for Mumbai against Uttarakhand. Fellow India veteran Virat Kohli, meanwhile, scored a 61-ball 77 against Gujarat at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Rohit had lit the ground up in Jaipur just about two days earlier, smashing 155 in 94 balls against Sikkim in front of a delighted crowd at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. That knock, in which Mumbai were chasing, only increased anticipation for the next match and the stadium was reportedly just beginning to full up when Rohit walked out to bat. However, the stands started emptying pretty soon when he fell off the last ball of the first over to Devendra Singh Bora.
Kohli, who also had scored a century in his first match of the tournament for Delhi a couple of days ago, had a better outing in Bengaluru. He was looking set for a second consecutive century as he raced to 77 in 61 balls before falling to Vishal Jayswal in the 22nd over.
On Wednesday, about 3000 fans had been expected at the stadium in Jaipur for Rohit’s first Vijay Hazare Trophy match since 2018. That number, however, had been met by 8am for a 9am match. By the time the crowd settled into place, there was not an empty seat available in the house – a section of the stadium near the dressing rooms was kept empty for security reasons. There was no official attendance figure, but a consensus estimate of the total count was that it neared 20,000.
It was somewhat similar to what had happened when Kohli played his first Ranji Trophy match earlier this year at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. In his case on Wednesday, though, his shots were met with only light applause from his teammates and whichever fans could manage to beat the fences installed to catch a glimpse of him, with Delhi’s matches being played behind closed doors at the CoE. On Friday, though, Fans outside the CoE don’t seem to know which ground Delhi’s match against Gujarat is happening. They were seen climbing the wall and now Kohli walked in early.
The Gujarat wicketkeeper came up to the stumps as soon as Kohli walked out to bat, since he had been using his feet a lot against Andhra in Delhi’s opening match. Kohli had scored 131 in 101 balls in that game. On Friday, the former India captain wasn’t bothered by Gujarat’s move as Effortlessly lofted one over mid on for Delhi’s first boundary.
Kohli was beaten thrice by Nagwaswalla before he reached his half-century — twice when he tried to play a pull and a cut and once when he tried to defend. He followed it with a boundary through the mid-wicket and one through the covers. By the time he was on 48, Kohli had hit 10 fours and a six.