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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is currently in a state of fix as they are still under talks to decide on the squad for ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to be played from February 19 till March 9 in Pakistan and the UAE. According to reports citing Cricbuzz, where BCCI has requested ICC for extension to announce the provisional squad, in another move, they have requested wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul to be available for ODI series against England.
As per the latest development, the BCCI seems to have changed their plans over KL Rahul, as they have rejected his break and have asked him to be available for the three-match ODI series against England, set to be played from February 6 onwards. It is to be noted that KL Rahul has sought for a break from the BCCI, which the board had agreed to as well, but BCCI has now asked him to be available seeing the marquee tournament ahead.
BCCI asks KL Rahul to play ODI series against England ahead of Champions Trophy: Reports
As per a source, stated in a report from The Times of India (TOI), “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."
It is to be noted that KL Rahul has been India’s number one wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs, having consistently scored runs in the middle order. Seemingly with the senior Indian batting order crumbling against the Australian attack in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under, KL Rahul was among the few batters who got some runs on the board. Rahul, finished as the third-highest run-getter for the visitors after Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy, scoring 276 runs in 10 innings at an average of 30.66.
Seeing a gruelling performance in the BGT series, KL Rahul opted out of Karnataka’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad, despite several former cricketers speaking on the importance to play doemstic cricket. While the side included Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna, the two Indian cricketers who featured in a match each down under, KL Rahul opted for rest, with Mayank Agarwal leading Karnataka in the quarterfinal clash against Baroda in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25.
