India's senior batter KL Rahul has been asked to be available for the three-ODI series against England starting February 6. Earlier, the selectors had decided to rest him till the ICC Champions Trophy but took a u-turn on the matter.
As per a report by TOI, the selectors want Rahul to have some match practice ahead of the major tournament which will be played in hybrid model.
"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," the source told TOI.
Earlier, Rahul had opted out of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 after a gruelling Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Meanwhile, Prasidh Krishna and Devdutt Padikkal are playing in the knockout phase of the tournament.
Rahul's ODI record against England
Rahul does not have an impressive record against England. He has scored 249 runs from 10 innings at an average of 31.12 including a century and fifty. Meanwhile, in UAE where India will play their Champions Trophy, Rahul has played just one ODI and scored a half-century.
Rahul's run since ODI World Cup
Rahul's last ODI appearance was against Sri Lanka on spin-friendly tracks where India lost the series. He bagged a golden duck in the last match. Since the half-century against Australia in a losing cause in ODI World Cup 2023, he scored 108 runs from four innings including a half-century against South Africa in the three-ODI series.
Wicketkeeper in T20I series against England
Rahul will not be part of the five-T20I series against England. India have a wicketkeeper-batter in Sanju Samson. It will be interesting to see if Rishabh Pant is rested or picked in the squad. In the previous T20I series on South Africa soil, Jitesh Sharma was the back-up wicketkeeper-batter in the squad.