Everyone is waiting for the Champions Trophy 2025, for which Team India will be announced in the next few hours. Just before this tournament, Team India also has to play T20 and ODI series against England, which is considered important for the preparations for the Champions Trophy. The debate is going on about who will get a place in the squads of these two series and Champions Trophy and who will not. Amidst this discussion, a big news has come regarding star wicketkeeper KL Rahul, who will not take the field for the series against England but despite this, his selection for the Champions Trophy has been decided.

Out of 8 matches against England

According to the report of English newspaper Times of India, it has been decided to rest Rahul for these eight matches against England. However, despite this, the selection committee has assured Rahul that he will definitely get a place in the squad selected for the Champions Trophy. This means that Rahul will neither play in the T20 series nor play 3 matches of the ODI series against England, yet he will be included in the squad of 15 players for the tournament.

shocking decision

This decision of the selection committee seems shocking because Rahul has not been a part of the T20 team for a long time. In such a situation, there was no expectation of his being selected for the T20 series. But the decision to give rest from the ODI series just before the Champions Trophy definitely surprises. This is because Team India has already returned from Australia and the ODI series is to start from 6th February. In such a situation, Rahul has enough time to rest.

In such a situation, if the selection committee has assured that he will definitely be selected for the Champions Trophy, then it would have been better if he had prepared himself by playing the ODI series. If he is fielded directly in such a big tournament without any preparation and in case of failure, questions will be raised not only on the wicketkeeper-batsman but also on the selection committee.

Is this a reason for giving rest?

However, there is also a possibility that Rahul himself may have asked for a break from BCCI because his wife Athiya Shetty is going to give birth to a child soon. Rahul and Athiya are going to become parents for the first time, so it is possible that Rahul wants to be with the family on this special occasion and hence he has been given rest. One reason could also be that the selection committee has already selected Rahul as the main wicketkeeper because he had played this role well in the 2023 World Cup. In such a situation, in his absence, Team India wants to take a decision on the backup wicketkeeper by giving a chance to one of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant.