Champions Trophy: KL Rahul to be India's first-choice keeper
What's the story
Indian cricket team's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, has backed KL Rahul as the team's first-choice wicket-keeper for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
This comes after Rahul was preferred over Rishabh Pant in a recent ODI series against England.
Although he had a rough start in the first two matches, Rahul found his rhythm back by scoring 40 off just 29 balls in the last game.
Coach's perspective
Gambhir addresses competition between Rahul and Pant
Gambhir also admitted that Rahul and Pant are still in competition for the wicketkeeper's slot in the Champions Trophy.
"KL is our No. 1 wicketkeeper and this is what I can say at the moment," he said after the final game.
The coach also promised that Pant will get his opportunity but highlighted that they can't play two wicketkeeper-batters at the same time.
Notably, this will be Rahul's maiden CT campaign.
Track record
Rahul's impressive performance in ODI World Cup 2023
Since the ODI World Cup 2023, Rahul has been India's go-to wicketkeeper-batter.
He had an outstanding run in the tournament, scoring 452 runs from 10 innings at an average of 75.33, including one century and two half-centuries.
His best performance was a pressure-handling knock of 97 off just 115 balls against Australia in the first game, helping India chase down a target of 201.
Outstanding achievements
Rahul's record-breaking century and dismissals
In the same tournament, Rahul scripted history by scoring the fastest WC century by an Indian, reaching the milestone in just 62 balls against the Netherlands.
He also recorded the second-highest number of dismissals in the tournament - 17 (16 catches and one stumping).
These achievements only further solidify his position as India's top choice for wicketkeeper in the upcoming Champions Trophy.
Career
Impressive stats in ODI format
The 40-run knock in the final match against England took Rahul's tally to 2,903 runs from 80 ODIs at 47.59.
He has seven tons and 18 fifties.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Rahul has now played 31 innings at number five in ODI cricket.
He has scored 1,299 runs at this position at a remarkable average of 56.47. His strike rate of 96.36 is also impressive.