Kohli and Rohit's Vijay Hazare Trophy comeback and the List A-ODI disconnect

The 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy kicked off last Wednesday, with 22 batters scoring centuries. Among them were Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who cornered attention with their return to the tournament after long absences. Rohit had last played in India's domestic one-day competition in 2018, while Kohli in 2010.

An even more notable aspect of Kohli's comeback was that his last non-ODI List A match was in 2013. He had led Delhi then in the Challenger Trophy. So his appearance, again for his home city, against Andhra last week ended a streak of 195 consecutive international matches in the 50-over format.

Kohli's streak is by far the longest in history, more than twice his nearest competitor. Brendon McCullum played 96 consecutive ODIs from 2009 till the 2015 World Cup final. Rohit is third on the list with 91, which also ended last week when he played for Mumbai against Sikkim.

Kohli went 12 years and 86 days between two non-ODI List A games. This gap is the longest among the 460 players who have played 70 or more men's ODIs. Jasprit Bumrah, who hasn't played any 50-over cricket since the 2023 World Cup final, is at second place. His last non-ODI List A match was in January 2017.

As many as 12 players have gone seven or more years without playing a non-ODI List A game, while still appearing in at least 50 ODI matches. Eleven of them are active cricketers in 2025. Four of them were part of the recent India-South Africa ODI series: Kohli, Quinton de Kock, Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja.

This highlights just how cramped the international calendar has become, as well as the diminishing importance of domestic one-dayers for each team's established stars. Additionally, List A games for touring teams have nearly vanished and there are always injury concerns to consider.

Another statistic indicating this trend is the percentage of List A matches played as ODIs since the start of 2021: 70.3 among the 460 men with 70-plus ODI appearances; it was 49.5 between 1991 and 1995. The percentages have increased gradually since the start of the millennium and gathered pace since 2010.

England are a prime example. Until 2002, they hosted three domestic one-day tournaments each season; since 2010, only one has been conducted. It runs concurrently with the Hundred now leading to a situation where players have to choose. Naturally, they'd prefer the competition that offers better money, quality and visibility. The knock-on effect of that, though, is a generation of players having to learn how to play 50-over cricket at the international level.

Jacob Bethell scored his first List A century in an ODI against South Africa earlier this year. Among the 50 men who had scored an ODI hundred for England before Bethell, only Keith Fletcher managed to play for his country before recording a domestic century.

Fletcher played 137 List A matches, including 16 ODIs, and scored only two hundreds during his time, which, across formats, spanned over 25 years and 429 games. In contrast, Bethell had played just 30 List A matches before his ODI hundred, with 14 of them for England. The 22-year-old's selection was based on talent rather than performance and he certainly seems capable. As recently as Saturday, Bethell helped England end a 15-year wait for an Ashes Test win in Australia.

On the other hand, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored his maiden ODI hundred earlier this month, had already hit 17 List A centuries. He has consistently delivered impressive performances in the 50-over format, including a big hundred on his List A debut in February 2017.

Only six of Gaikwad's 89 List A matches, before the South Africa series, had been ODIs. Because he is a top-order player and that meant competing for a spot with the likes of Kohli and Rohit. By chance, an injury to Shreyas Iyer opened up a spot at No. 4 and Gaikwad took it on. The 105 he made in Raipur is all the more remarkable because in 86 previous List A innings he had never batted in the middle-order; all his 86 innings prior to the South Africa series were as a top-three batter.

Gaikwad took the record for most hundreds in List A cricket before scoring one in ODIs from Australia's Matthew Hayden. Like Gaikwad, Hayden faced challenges breaking into the national team owing to the strong performances of existing players. Hayden's first ODI hundred came in his 22nd match, just two games after narrowly missing out by falling on 99.

Until then, Hayden had played 127 List A matches, outside of ODIs, over the course of nine years. However, that gap closed once he became a regular in both the ODI and Test squads. Between March 2002 and February 2005, Hayden played in 81 List A matches, all ODIs. During this time, he collected 3070 runs, making him the first player to score over 3000 consecutive runs in List A cricket solely from ODIs. Since then, ten players have done so, nine of them since the mid-2010s, when playing in all three formats of international cricket became normal.

Kohli holds the record for consecutive List A runs scored solely from ODIs now - 9982, which raised his List A tally from the 6000s to the 16000s. Rohit is a distant second, with 4451.

Michael Hussey was another top-quality batter kept out by the overwhelming quality in the Australian side during the 1990s and 2000s. By the time he made his Test debut, he had already scored 15,313 runs in first-class cricket, and 5111 runs in List A cricket before his ODI debut in 2004. Notably, Hussey's first ODI was his 147th List A match.

Between his ODI debut and retirement, after 185 appearances for Australia, Hussey played only 47 non-ODI List A games. Four out of every five List A matches he played during his ODI career were for Australia. However, across his entire List A career, that ratio is one ODI in every two List A games, highlighting his prominence in the national side and the demanding international schedule.

In contrast, Brad Hodge, despite having an impressive List A record, couldn't maintain his spot in the Australia squad because of inconsistent performances. Hodge made his ODI debut after 157 List A caps, in which he scored 5106 runs. His first ODI hundred came during the 2007 World Cup, after 13 centuries in List A cricket.

Hodge played only 25 ODIs between 2005 and 2007, during which he also played 24 List A games elsewhere. He continued playing List A cricket until the 2011-12 season, after which he retired from the format and became a T20 freelancer.

A more recent example of variations in List A appearances by ODI cricketers is Alex Hales. The England batter last played in the format in 2019, the same year he became a T20 specialist following his final ODI appearance. Of his 175 List A matches, only 70 were ODIs, but only 88 of those 175 matches took place between his first and last ODIs.

Kohli received his India cap after playing only nine List A matches, with a highest score of 62. By the time he scored his maiden ODI century in December 2009, he had already struck four List A hundreds.

Over his career, 89.5% of his List A matches were ODIs, ranking fourth among players who have played over 70 men's ODIs. The highest percentage, at 98.31%, belongs to Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, who has played only two non-ODI List A matches - one of which was against Nepal during the World Cup qualifiers.

England's Neil Fairbrother has the lowest percentage: only 14.82% of his List A career matches have been ODIs. For the percentage of matches played during the ODI career of all players, refer to Table 1 above.

Rashid does not, however, possess the highest percentage of List A matches that are ODIs within an ODI career. He ranks second, behind South Africa's Kagiso Rabada, who has played only one non-ODI List A match since his ODI debut. India's Kuldeep Yadav is third, having played just three non-ODI List A matches while playing 117 ODIs. For Pakistan's Shadab Khan, those figures are 70 ODIs and three non-ODIs.

Fairbrother has the lowest percentage in this as well - he played 357 List A games during his 75-match ODI career. For the percentage of matches played during the ODI career of all players, refer to Table 2 above.

Joe Root, another all-format player, has had time for only 11 of his 38 non-ODI List A games since making his 50-over debut for England. His last non-ODI List A game was in 2018, a tour match in Sri Lanka. That match also marked Jos Buttler's last non-ODI List A game; however, he did not bat, so his last scoring shot in List A cricket outside of ODIs was back in March 2017.

The record for the most List A matches that are also ODIs is held by Muhammad Waseem, with 65. Waseem tally in that time - 1698 - do not represent the highest number of List A runs that are ODI runs. That record belongs to another UAE player, Vriitya Aravind, who has 1865.

Aravind has played all 63 of his List A matches as ODIs, the same as his team-mate Junaid Siddique, who holds the record for the most List A wickets taken exclusively in ODIs, with a total of 86. It is common for players from Associate nations to have such records, as their domestic one-day competitions, if hosted, do not carry List A status.

Kohli and Rohit played the Vijay Hazare Trophy to stay in contention for the 2027 World Cup and also get some much-needed game time. Along the way, records fell.

Kohli's century against Andhra made him the fastest player to reach 16,000 List A runs, and he is now only two centuries away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 60 List A centuries. However, only five of Kohli's 58 List A centuries have come outside of ODIs.

The record for most List A hundreds, all of which came in ODIs, belongs to Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf, who has 15 hundreds in 288 ODIs, but has not scored any in his 50 non-ODI List A games. Namibia's Michael van Lingen is next, with five hundreds in 40 ODIs - he registered a duck in his only non-ODI List A appearance to date.

On the other hand, Rohit registered his ninth score of 150 or more in List A cricket, tying with Australia's David Warner. Despite not touching 150 in the last six years, Rohit has the equivalent record in ODIs with eight such scores. Unfortunately, he followed this achievement with a golden duck, disappointing a large crowd.

Meanwhile, Kohli continued his excellent form and equalled the record for the fastest to 1000 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy held by Devdutt Padikkal (15 innings). Padikkal has scored a total of 2342 runs with 11 hundreds in his 35-match List A career, boasting an impressive average of 83.64.

While Padikkal has yet to make his international debut in his best format, he has earned two caps each in T20Is and Tests. With a strong pool of batters in India, both Padikkal and Gaikwad have the opportunity to align their List A and ODI careers with those of Hayden or Hussey. However, there is also the example of Hodge.