The final league stage match of the Ranji Trophy second leg will see the return of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul to the domestic tourney. The last round matches will get underway from January 30 in venues across the country. While Kohli and Rahul return to their respective sides, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal are some of the players who participated in the penultimate round who will skip the last league stage game.
Following the BCCI’s directive to Test regulars, Rohit, Jaiswal, Jadeja, Pant and Gill made their return to the domestic red-ball tournament. While Gill tasted success with the bat with a fighting hundred in the game against Karnataka, Jadeja bagged a ten-wicket haul to help Saurashtra rout Delhi. However, Rohit, Jaiswal and Pant failed to fire. Now, the attention shifts to the last matches of the league stage.
Who’s in & out of Ranji Trophy’s last league stage matches
1. Rohit Sharma – OUT
The Indian skipper made his return to Ranji Trophy after a gap of 9 years, having last played in 2015. However, he flopped on his highly-anticipated comeback – not once but twice. In the game against Jammu and Kashmir, the Hitman managed scores of just 3 and 28. Rohit failed to break free from the shackle of poor form that has boggling him since the latter half of 2024. Now, he will not take part in Mumbai’s final league stage match against Meghalaya on January 30 to attend a practice camp ahead of IND vs ENG ODIs and the ICC Champions Trophy.
2. Yashasvi Jaiswal – OUT
Like the Indian skipper, his opening partner too flopped on his return to Ranji. The southpaw scores 4 and 26 in two innings against J&K. But unlike Rohit, Jaiswal’s form was never a concern for India, although the youngster needs to work on his patience in the longest format of the game. He will now turn his attention towards the ODIs – the only format that he hasn’t ventured into so far. Along with Rohit, he will also prioritize the camp before the England series and CT 2025 over the final league match.
3. Virat Kohli – IN
The former Indian skipper will return to Ranji for the first time in 12 years in the game against Railways. He missed Delhi’s match against Saurashtra due to a neck sprain. However, he has now recovered and has been named in the squad for the final round. Kohli was also seen practicing with ex-batting coach Sanjay Bangar and working on his back foot shots. He is also expected to join his Delhi teammates for a practice camp on Tuesday ahead of the game against Railways.
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4. KL Rahul – IN
The Karnataka star has been named in the squad for the game against Haryana. Like Kohli, Rahul missed the first round match of the second leg against Punjab owing to a niggle. He last featured in the tournament in 2015. Despite being one of the best batters in the recently concluded tour to Australia, there is still room for a lot of improvement for the batter. With 7262 runs from 103 first-class matches, he was one of the regulars in domestic red-ball tourneys until he became an all-format player.
5. Rishabh Pant – OUT
The southpaw’s return to the domestic red-ball tournament after 7 years ended up in a couple of flop shows. The keeper-batter, who had declined the offer to captain Delhi against Saurashtra, managed just 1 and 17 runs in two innings. Now, he has opted out of the side’s final league stage match against Railways. Reports suggest that the selectors want him to rest, keeping his workload management in mind, and hence asked him to skip the game. Like Rohit and Jaiswal, he is also expected to turn his attention to ODIs.
6. Shreyas Iyer – OUT
The Mumbai middle-order batter will not feature in the final league stage match. Instead, he will take part in the practice camp before IND vs ENG ODIs. Iyer has been a regular in this year’s domestic season. With 480 runs from 5 matches in this year’s edition of the tournament, Iyer averaged 68.57 and even scored a couple of hundreds as well.
| Player | Status |
| Rohit Sharma | NO |
| Virat Kohli | YES |
| KL Rahul | YES |
| Rishabh Pant | NO |
| Ravindra Jadeja | YES |
| Shubman Gill | NOT CONFIRMED |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | NO |
| Shreyas Iyer | NO |
| Riyan Parag | YES |
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