NEWS
Follow UsThe senior selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seemed to have taken a U-turn on assurance provided to KL Rahul to rest him for the England series at home.
Rahul, who had just about an average Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 Down Under, scoring 276 runs at an average of 30 without any century to his name, asked the board to omit him from the five-T20Is and three ODIs series against the visiting English team.
Though Rahul is not in the scheme of things as far as T20Is for India are concerned, he still is India’s first-choice wicketkeeping option in ODIs, with his batting weighing heavily over either Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson.
With the ICC Champions Trophy (CT) 2025 in close vicinity of the England ODIs, selectors are not in favour of letting a probable starter in the eight-team tournament take a rest just before it.
"The selectors initially decided to rest Rahul, who plays in the middle order and is a wicketkeeper in the ODIs, from the entire white-ball series against England at home.
"However, they had a rethink, and the BCCI has now asked him to play in the ODI series so that he gains some match practice ahead of the Champions Trophy in February," a source close to BCCI was quoted as saying to the Times of India.
The ODI series against England will begin on February 6, while India will start their CT 2025 campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 in Dubai.
