The opening round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) 2025/26 was under many eyeballs as some notable national players, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, as well as several fans, turned up around the ground. Rohit featured for Mumbai against Sikkim at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, while Kohli played for Delhi at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Rohit was exceptional with the bat, while Virat Kohli approached aggressively with the bat from the beginning of the innings. It’s due to the policy of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that every national player would need to feature in domestic games if they are not part of any national duty.

A look at the top five batting performances from Day 1 of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26

1.   Vaibhav Suryavanshi

Heading into the 2025/26 season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the upcoming Indian superstar and Bihar’s opening batter, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, had just 132 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 110 with one half-century to his name. There was a need for the left-handed batter to make a bigger contribution in this season, and he started on the right note.

Suryavanshi, during the clash against Arunachal Pradesh, clubbed a fine knock of 190 runs in just 84 balls at a strike rate of over 226, smashing 16 boundaries and 15 sixes. He broke the record of Ab de Villiers to celebrate the fastest List A 150 as Bihar posted a massive score of 574/6 in their allotted 50 overs, which became the highest total in the domestic 50-over event.

2.   Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand)

The left-handed wicket-keeper batter of the Indian side, Ishan Kishan, who led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025/26 and got selected in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad in India and Sri Lanka in place of Shubman Gill, continued his aggressive batting at number six, as he smartly demoted himself to this place.

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On the back of the 129 run fourth wicket stand. Kishan used the platform and celebrated a fiery knock of 125 runs in just 39 deliveries at a strike rate of more than 320, thanks to his seven boundaries and 14 sixes. If he can continue the same form through the entire tournament, then there is a possibility of him making a comeback to the ODI side of the Indian team.

3.   Rohit Sharma (Mumbai)

There was a massive crowd at the Savai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur to watch Rohit Sharma’s batting. It just got increased during the 237 run chase of the Mumbai side against Sikkim as Rohit opened the batting with Angkrish Raghuvanshi. The Nagpur-born was already in great touch with three half-centuries and one unbeaten century in the last two ODI series against Australia and South Africa.

Rohit channeled the same aggressive approach and celebrated his second VHT Century in just 62 deliveries before ending with 155 runs in 94 balls with the help of 18 boundaries and nine sixes as Mumbai completed the successful chase in 30.3 overs.

4.   Virat Kohli (Delhi)

Virat Kohli was supposed play for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru before the police security forced the game to be shifted to the BCCI Centre of Excellence. In that 299 run chase, Kohli started with two sweet boundaries- one on a lofted hit over extra cover and the second one driven around the ground between cover and point region.

The former captain notched up his 50 in just 39 deliveries before getting to his century with a sweet shot, but did not show any massive celebration.

5.   Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka)

The game between Karnataka and Jharkhand at the Narendra Modi Stadium B was a run fest for the batters as over 800 runs were scored in the 100 overs of the game. In reply to Jharkhand’s 413 runs thanks to Ishan Kishan's blistering century, Karnataka needed one of their top-order batters to stay till the end and smash a cracking century.

Devdutt Padikkal played that innings of 147 runs in 118 deliveries at a strike rate over 124 with the help of ten boundaries and seven sixes while opening the batting with captain Mayank Agarwal. They won the clash by five wickets with 15 balls to spare.