CHENNAI: India Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, pacer Arshdeep Singh and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul will play for their respective state teams and join an array of stars featuring in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. Gill and Arshdeep will turn up for Punjab in their Group C match against Sikkim at the Jaipuria Vidyalaya Ground, Jaipur on Saturday. The duo will also play Punjab's next match against Goa scheduled on January 6.
Just like former India skipper Virat Kohli played two matches for Delhi behind closed doors at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru, no crowd will be allowed for the Punjab match as well due to security concerns and lack of seating arrangements for spectators.
Rahul, who is a certainty for the upcoming New Zealand series, will be part of Karnataka, who have won all of their four matches so far and sitting at No 2 in the Group A points table behind Madhya Pradesh, in their clash against Tripura in Ahmedabad. A Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) official confirmed Rahul's participation when enquired about it by this daily.
The other prominent India stars playing in the tournament are Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal. The first two are representing Uttar Pradesh while Padikkal is piling on runs for Karnataka.
Kohli, who has scored 208 runs so far with the help of a century and a fifty each, is likely to return to his domestic side and play one more match before joining the national team for ODIs against the Kiwis. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley told this daily that Kohli may play against Railways on January 6. The match at the moment is scheduled to be held in Alur. Once again, Kohli, if he takes the field, may have to ply his trade with no general public in attendance given the security issues and no seating arrangements for spectators.
Select matches (January 3)
Group A: Ahmedabad: Rajasthan vs Tamil Nadu; Jharkhand vs Kerala; Karnataka vs Tripura.
Group B: Rajkot: Jammu & Kashmir vs Uttar Pradesh; Chandigarh vs Hyderabad.
Group C: Jaipur: Punjab vs Sikkim; Maharashtra vs Mumbai.
Group D: Alur: Andhra vs Gujarat, Haryana vs Odisha; Delhi vs Services (CoE 2 Bengaluru).