Rohit Sharma to be considered for selection for Mumbai's two opening Vijay Hazare fixtures: Report

Rohit Sharma will play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting with matches against Sikkim and Uttarakhand.

Rohit Sharma is set to feature for Mumbai at the start of their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign, with reports claiming he is available for selection for the first two group games in Jaipur. Mumbai open their campaign against Sikkim on December 24 and face Uttarakhand on December 26.

India's Rohit Sharma celebrates his fifty runs during the third One Day International match between India and South Africa. (AP)

The matches give Mumbai an immediate injection of top-order experience as the 50-over season begins, while also offering Rohit competitive time in the middle before India’s international calendar resumes in January.

The latest update, as reported by PTI, indicates Rohit could be picked straight away for those opening fixtures. That is a notable shift from the earlier expectation that Mumbai might start without a few senior names while selectors used the opening phase to assess the emerging talents under pressure.

Mumbai’s squad for the first two games has been listed with Shardul Thakur as captain, and Rohit included for the Sikkim and Uttarakhand fixtures. Jaipur is the venue base for this opening leg, with the Sawai Mansingh Stadium among the host grounds for Mumbai’s Elite Group C matches.

For Mumbai, the timing matters because the group stage is rarely forgiving. League games come in quick succession, and a single off-day can leave qualification math uncomfortably tight. A settled opener at the top offers a clearer template for the rest of the batting order.

There is also a wider availability ladder around Mumbai’s contingent. A separate report quoted an MCA official as saying that Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube are expected to turn out for Mumbai’s last two league games on January 6 and 8, also in Jaipur, against Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, respectively. With that staggered return, Mumbai can rotate combinations without losing their senior core entirely.

Rohit Sharma's schedule window is expected to dovetail into India’s next ODI assignment: the home series against New Zealand that begins on January 11, with subsequent matches on January 14 and 18. Even a two-game domestic burst, therefore, carries real value, before the focus shifts back to international cricket. For Mumbai, it is also a chance to bank on early momentum.