The India cricket team’s batting order is set for the Bangladesh vs India match. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasn’t even taken a backup batter. Yashasvi Jaiswal was initially named in the Champions Trophy 2025 squad but was replaced by Varun Chakaravarthy hours before the International Cricket Council (ICC) deadline. The only spot worth fighting is the wicketkeeper. There the fight is between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.
Gautam Gambhir’s left-right obsession
Team India captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir did back Rahul in the recently concluded India vs. England ODI series. The batter from Karnataka played a solid innings in Ahmedabad, providing a flourishing finish to the Men in Blue, but after each failure, people started questioning his place in the team with a much more talented Pant sitting out.
Rahul can also fall victim to Gambhir’s right-left strategy in the India vs Bangladesh match. We know how much the Indian coach likes to have a lefty and righty batter in the middle. That is why Yashasvi Jaiswal made his ODI debut earlier in the month, and Axar Patel is batting at number five over Rahul of late.
KL Rahul, the world’s most versatile middle-order batter
We already know that Gambhir and Rohit Sharma don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to selection. And in Gambhir’s tactic, Pant would slot right in. While having a lefty helps, it doesn’t mean you’ll win. If we glance over their respective records at numbers four and five, you’ll see that Rahul is miles ahead.
KL Rahul & Rishabh Pant: ODI stats comparison at No. 4 & 5
| Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KL Rahul | 44 | 1857 | 56.27 | 93.26 | 4 | 12 |
| Rishabh Pant | 24 | 808 | 35.13 | 109.18 | 1 | 5 |
Pant may have an advantage when talking about strike rate, but that’s it. Apart from an incredible average, Rahul has the ability to switch gears. He has shown he can arrest the collapse. The perfect of that would be his 97* against Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup. He can explode when needed as well. That 102 from just 64 balls against the Netherlands in the same tournament would prove that.
That’s why you need KL Rahul. You have Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya in the middle order who can accelerate and bash the batters in the India vs Bangladesh match. Having Rahul would provide the perfect balance, even though he’s not a lefty.
India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Bench: Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Editor's Pick
Cricket
MS Dhoni, the wicketkeeper, makes 3 out of 3 stumpings amid all the noise over batting position
Top Stories
