Virat Kohli To Play Vijay Hazare Trophy For Delhi: DDCA President Rohan Jaitley

India's batting stalwart Virat Kohli will play the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy after a gap of 15 years, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) announced on Tuesday, stating that the former skipper has made himself available for the ODI tournament.

"He has confirmed his availability to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. How many games he will feature in, that is not clear yet. Obviously, him being around will be a massive boost to the Delhi dressing room," Jaitley told PTI.

Delhi open their Vijay Hazare campaign against Andhra in Bengaluru on December 24. In total, they will play six games. The 37-year-old who last featured in the tournament in February 2010 against Services, has not featured in a List A game since 2013 NKP Salve Challenger Trophy.

Kohli's return to the domestic circuit comes after BCCI's move of players making themselves mandatory for domestic games, especially the ones who are not injured or on national duty.

Kohli recently racked up his 52nd hundred in the series opener at Ranchi, showing he remains sharp as ever despite playing just one version of the game, having announced his retirement from Tests earlier this year.

Fans are expected to turn up in numbers to watch the action at the ground when Kohli is around. Earlier this year, Kohli made a grand spectacle of an otherwise drab Ranji Trophy game when he played his first first-class match in more than 12 years.

More than 12000 people came to watch Kohli play, numbers unheard of for a domestic fixture in a long while.

He returned to Ranji Trophy as part of preparation for international duty but in a surprise decision, he announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the England tour.

Rohit Sharma, who too retired from Tests ahead of the England tour, is expected to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Both Kohli and Rohit were amongst the runs in the series opener against Proteas in Ranchi. They played their first international game in months during the tour of Australia last month.

After failing to score a run in the first two games Down Under, Kohli got into the groove with a half-century in the third and final ODI. Rohit had smashed a hundred in the same game held in Sydney.

(With PTI inputs)