Senior pros Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli made a grand comeback to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, smashing centuries to power their team to victories on the opening day of the one-day tournament on Wednesday.
Mumbai's Rohit proved to be unstoppable with the bat, smashing a quickfire century against Sikkim, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, in Jaipur, on Wednesday.
Playing in the national one-day tournament after seven years, Rohit took the Sikkim bowlers to the cleaners with a dominating batting performance.
Electing to bat, Sikkim were restricted to 236/7 in their 50 overs as Ashish Thapa top-scored with 79.
Mumbai went on the rampage from the start with Rohit leading the charge. He dominated the 141-run opening stand with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 38.
Rohit, who brought up his century from just 62 balls, blazed his way to a magnificent 155 from 94 balls -- including nine sixes and 18 fours -- to power Mumbai to an emphatic eight-wicket victory with nearly 20 overs to spare as they raced to victory in 30.3 overs.
Meanwhile, Kohli also returned in style with a thumping century for Delhi against Andhra -- his first Vijay Hazare Trophy match in 15 years at the BCCI COE Ground 2 in Bengaluru.
He stroked his way to 53 from 40 balls with seven fours and a six before he changed gears to complete his 58th century in List A cricket from just 83 balls.
Batting at No 3, Kohli eventually perished after an impressive knock of 131 from 101 balls, with three sixes and 14 fours. Young opener Priyansh Arya had rallied Delhi after an early wicket as he hit a quickfire 74 from 44 balls, adding 113 from 71 balls with Kohli.
Kohli then took centrestage as he dominated the 160-run stand for the third wicket with Nitish Rana, who made 77 from 55 balls.
Delhi cruised to 300/6 in 37.4 overs to win by four wickets with 74 balls to spare.
Centuries galore
While Kohli and Rohit's blockbuster return to domestic cricket stole the limelight, there were fine performances from many other batters on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy that included three record-breaking centuries.
Young batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest List A centurion and the second fastest Indian to hit a ton in the format when he blasted a 36-ball 100 in Bihar’s Plate-group fixture against Arunachal Pradesh in Ranchi. The 14-year-old finished with 190 off 84 balls which included 16 fours and 15 sixes at an astounding strike rate of 226.19.
Captain Sakibul Gani then raced to a hundred in 32 balls to be India's fastest List A centurion, going past Anmolpreet Singh’s 35-ball effort in the 2024-25 edition of the tournament.
Gani remained unbeaten on 128 off 40 deliveries, while Ayush Loharuka mustered 116 off 56 balls as Bihar's total of 574/6 eclipsed the previous List A record of 506 for 2 set by Tamil Nadu against the same opponent in the same competition in 2022.
In a Group A Game in Ahmedabad, Ishan Kishan hit a whirlwind 39-ball 125, but ended up on the losing side as Karnataka overhauled the target of 413 in with 15 balls to spare, thanks to Devdutt Padikkal's 118-ball 147.
Kishan reached his hundred in just 33 balls to be the second fastest Indian List A centurion, behind only Gani’s 32-ball blitz as Suryavanshi’s 36-ball effort was pushed down to the fourth spot on the same day.
In another Group A encounter, young opener Yash Dubey's 103 off 132 balls helped Madhya Pradesh beat Rajasthan by 99 runs.
Elsewhere, Kerala's Vishnu Vinod, who was retained by Punjab Kings for the 2026 IPL, smashed 102 off 62 balls to guide his side to a dominant 145-run win over Tripura.
Vidarbha's Dhruv Shorey too notched up a hundred (136 off 125 balls; 18x4) but his efforts went in vain as Bengal won the Group B match by three wickets.
Opener Shubham Khajuria scored a splendid 129 off 105 balls studded with 20 hits to the fence as Jammu and Kashmir's hammered Chandigarh by 10 wickets in another Group B fixture.
Before Kohli's majestic ton took Delhi past the line with 70 balls to spare, veteran batter Ricky Bhui had hit a 105-ball 122 (11x4, 7x6) to guide Andhra to a decent total of 298/8.
A double hundred and a century lit up the Group D game between Saurashtra and Odisha in Bengaluru. Batting first, Odisha rode on a brilliant 212 off 169 balls (21x4, 8.6) by opener Swastik Samal to post 345/6, but Saurashtra overhauled the target in 48.5 overs for the loss of five wickets with Sammar Gajjar blasting his way to a 118-ball 132 containing 12 boundaries and three sixes.
There were two centuries in the Haryana vs Railways game. Batting first, Haryana scored 267 for 9 powered by a 142-ball 126 by opener Himanshu Rana 126. Railways chased down the target in 43.4 overs with middle-order batter Ravi Singh going berserk with a whirlwind unbeaten knock of 109 off 81 balls as he hammered 10 sixes and three boundaries to power his side to a 6-wicket win.
Opener Snehal Kauthankar remained unbeaten on 107 (116 balls; 10x4, 1x6) as Goa beat Chattisgarh by six wickets in a Group C match in Jaipur.
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