A former India great praised Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after their Round 1 Vijay Hazare Trophy centuries, calling them more than just net practice.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (Image Credit: BCCIdomestic)
Last Updated: 03.52 PM, Dec 25, 2025
India's star cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma slammed flamboyant centuries in the first match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025. The matches have drawn huge amount of crowd and appreciation from the former cricketers and fans. Speaking about the same, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh praised the batters for consistent performance in the ODI format.
Harbhajan was quite impressed with the way both batters have performed well in the tournament. The most important thing is that they have turned out to play in the domestic cricket, despite being in an incredible form. The century was a huge sign that both players are ready to play the upcoming ODI World Cup 2027.
And both of them are scoring runs, which is a good sign. It doesn’t matter who you are playing against, but what matters are the conditions on the ground. This isn’t net practice. Scoring a hundred here is a big deal in itself. It becomes a habit, a good habit. When you know how to score runs, when you know how to make hundreds, that’s a good habit to have. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing domestic cricket, international cricket, or even fewer matches, because that same thing is what you carry forward. And for them today, this is a really big thing," said Harbhajan Singh on his YouTube channel.
In the first match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025, Virat Kohli slammed 131 off 101 balls, including 14 boundaries and three sixes. While there were no crowd in the stadium and the match was shifted multiple times, Kohli managed to keep his momemtum intact and hammered the ton, helping Delhi chase down 299 runs.
Similarly for Mumbai, Rohit Sharma hit 155 off 94 balls, including 18 boundaries and nine sixes. The right-handed batter played some best shots and entertained the crowd who turned up to attended the match. Both Rohit and Kohli helped their respective state teams to win the match and will be expecting some thrilling matches ahead of the New Zealand series.
Cricket fans in India can watch the India vs New Zealand 1st ODI match on January 11 online on JioHotstar, via OTTplay Premium.