Will KL Rahul Be Part Of Squad For Champion Trophy 2025?

After KL Rahul's below-par performance in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, where he failed to score runs in 3-matches of the ODI series. The question is whether he will be part of the Indian team in the upcoming ICC event scheduled in February-March 2025. The star Indian batter has made a return squad after performing well in the 17th edition of the IPL (Indian Premier League) for the Lucknow-based franchise. He was the leading run-scorer with 520 runs, 14 matches at an average of 37 having 4 half-centuries to his name. However, once he returned to the Indian squad, he failed to perform, losing the series by 2-0.

After ending the title drought of 17 long years by winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, the Indian team will be gearing up for the ICC Champions Trophy which is scheduled to take place next year in 2025. Looking at the current form and playing combination of the Indian team they can give another chance to KL Rahul despite his average performance as he carries a lot of experience with him which can benefit the Indian team in the marquee event.

Irrespective of that, One of the biggest challenges for Gambhir and Co is that India will play only three ODIs before the Champions Trophy. Thus, it will be difficult for Gautam to select players on their match performance in ODIs.

Talking about the opening combination, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be the opening pair going into the Champions Trophy, as the duo has given a strong start to India on several occasions. In the middle-order, the Indian team can go with Rishabh Pant or Riyan Parag after their impressive performance in the recently concluded series. Apart from these 2, they can even give a chance to Sanju Samson after he was benched in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. It will be interesting to see whether the Indian team management goes with experience or talent for the marquee event.

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Riyan Parag, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal