KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant? India head coach Gautam Gambhir names first-choice wicket-keeper

KL Rahul played as the wicket-keeper in all three games of the IND vs ENG 2025 ODI series.

Having whitewashed England 3-0 in the home ODI series, the Indian Cricket Team have emerged as hot favorites for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

The hosts had plenty of positives in the series, including Mohammed Shami’s return to ODI cricket after over a year, Rohit Sharma’s return to form in white-ball cricket, and excellent performances by the spinners.

Despite making several changes in the playing XI, India stuck with KL Rahul in all three games of the series, even with the presence of Rishabh Pant in the squad.

Rahul had an average series with the bat, coming in at No. 6 in the first two games and at No. 5 in the last game in Ahmedabad. The wicket-keeper batter registered scores of 2, 10, and 40 across the three games.

Following India’s series win, head coach Gautam Gambhir has now revealed their first-choice wicket-keeper of the team.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir names first-choice wicket-keeper

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Gautam Gambhir stressed that KL Rahul is India’s first-choice wicket-keeper batter. He also emphasized that Rishabh Pant will get his opportunities.

Gambhir said, “KL (KL Rahul) is our No 1 wicketkeeper and this is what I can say at the moment. Rishabh Pant will get his chance but at the moment it is KL who has done well and we cannot play two wicketkeeper-batters.”

Despite emerging as one of India’s biggest match-winners in test cricket, Rishabh Pant has not been able to replicate the same numbers in ODIs. The southpaw has played 31 ODIs, scoring 871 runs at an average of 33.5, including one century and five half-centuries.

India will begin their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 in Dubai.

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