In a major setback for Delhi, Virat Kohli has made himself unavailable for the next match in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26. Having featured in Delhi’s first two matches in the tournament, there were hopes that Kohli might return for at least one more game.
Virat Kohli opts out of Delhi’s next Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Railways
Following the footsteps of Rohit Sharma, who earlier opted out of Mumbai’s next match, Virat Kohli has decided to skip Delhi’s upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 match against Railways on January 6. He made this decision comes after fulfilling the BCCI is mandatory diktat.
There were reports that the former Indian captain was set to play one more game for Delhi in the ongoing 50-over tournament to maintain rhythm before joining the national squad for the upcoming ODI series against the Black Caps, starting on January 11 in Vadodara.
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Rishabh Pant to miss Kohli’s services
But now it has suggested that the dashing right-handed batter is done with domestic duty. On Monday, January 5, an ANI journalist, Vipul Kashyap, revealed that Kohli will not return for Delhi’s next Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 game against Railways scheduled for January 6 in Bengaluru.
However, he has not mentioned anything about the possible reason behind the move. Tagging Kohli and the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), the journalist posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Virat will not play the VHT match tomorrow.”
Virat will not play VHT match of tomorrow @delhi_cricket @imVkohli
— vipul kashyap (@kashyapvipul) January 5, 2026
Virat Kohli’s performance in Vijay Hazare Trophy
Talking about Kohli’s performance for Delhi in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26, the right-handed batter played a brilliant knock of 131 runs off 101 balls laced with 14 fours and 3 sixes against Andhra Pradesh and then made 77 runs off 61 balls against Gujarat.
BCCI’s Domestic Rule
Ahead of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025–26, the BCCI made it clear that centrally contracted players must play at least two matches in the tournament to stay in ODI plans.
As a result, big names like Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and others turned out for their state teams. Kohli has already played two games.
So even if he misses the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy game, there is no pressure from the BCCI, as he has followed the board’s guideline.
MrBeast Keen for Virat Kohli Collab
Meanwhile, Popular American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson aka MrBeast has once again shown his interest in working with Virat Kohli. Ahead of the launch of Beast Games Season 2, he made it clear that he wants to collaborate with Kohli, citing his passionate Indian audience.
Donaldson was quoted as saying by NDTV: “Hey Virat Kohli, I’m trying to film with you.”
This is not the first time MrBeast has tried to connect with the Indian star. Back in April 2025, MrBeast had posted on social media asking: “Hey! Anyway I could get you in a video?”
