It was a decent but not up-to-the-mark performance from the Indian opening batter, KL Rahul, during the recently finished five-match Test series in Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 where he had a brilliant start to the trip but ended with just 276 runs in ten innings at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 50.09 with the help of two half-centuries at the best score of 84.
KL Rahul opened the innings in the first three encounters of the series before being demoted into the middle order of the national side during the fourth Boxing Day Test of the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The recent reports claimed that the Bengaluru-born could have missed out on the three-match ODI series at home against England and later in the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Stadium for the Blue Brigade. The decision was taken to rest the batter, who plays in the middle order and played as a wicket-keeper in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
“The selectors initially decided to rest KL 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 to 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.” The reports of Times of India expressed.
KL Rahul asked to play all eight white-ball home games against England- reports
The right-handed batter has smashed 2851 runs in 72 ODI innings at an average of 49.15 and a strike rate of 87.56 with the help of 18 half-centuries and seven centuries at the best score of 112 runs. The last ODI of KL Rahul came during the three-match series against Sri Lanka in Colombo, where he struggled badly against the spinners of the home side.
The 32-year-old had an incredible time in the 2023 ODI World Cup where coming in the middle order, the veteran drilled 452 runs in ten innings at an average of 75.33 and a strike rate of 90.76 with the help of one century and two half-centuries at the best score of 102. The knock in the final, where he played over 100 deliveries, grabbed a little criticism and didn’t help the home side against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The vice-captain of the side hasn’t been in the T20I planning of the national side, which is the reason behind them being called the no. 1 wicket-keeper in the 50-over format, where he consistently scores runs in the middle order.
After the return of the players from Australia, a few of the players have turned up for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 in their respective sides. But it has been informed that KL Rahul asked for some break in the period before being ready for the bilateral series against England, which starts on February 06 in Nagpur.
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It will be interesting to see if KL Rahul handles the wicket-keeping responsibilities of the format with the return of Rishabh Pant. The top order is expected to be arranged with captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, one of Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul and Pant.
The selection committee has asked for an extended period for the ICC before announcing the squad of the ODI series and the Champions Trophy 2025 in the upcoming week. The squad for the five-match T20I series will be declared late on Saturday (January 11) or Sunday.