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Aakash Chopra shares his views on choosing between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant for IND vs ENG 2025 ODIs
By SMCS - Feb 4, 2025 1:00 pm
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Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has added that KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are in contention to be the Indian team’s first-choice wicketkeeperbatter in the upcoming ODI series against England for different reasons as well. While saying that Pant provided a left-handed batting option, he stated that Rahul hadn’t done anything wrong to be out of the playing XI as well. However, India will play against England in three ODIs, with Nagpur hosting the first game on Thursday, February 6 as well.

KL Rahul
KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “There are two schools of thought. One is that you have all right-handers, Shubman Gill is there with Rohit Sharma, then Virat Kohli, Rahul and Hardik Pandya. So don’t you want a left-hander there? People who come with that thinking are saying Rishabh Pant should be played. What goes in KL Rahul’s favor is what wrong has he done. Just because his name is Rahul, will you keep drumming him? Will you keep getting him to do all the jobs, whether it’s keeping, going down or up the order, and serving the drinks? No, that’s not going to happen.”

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“He played well in the World Cup. I still remember the Australia match at Chepauk. India were reduced 25/3, something like that, and he performed like a Player of the Match. Then he continuously scored alright. He was criticized a lot for batting a little slow in the final, but we might not have reached where we reached if he had gotten out instead of batting slow,” Chopra again shared.

KL Rahul
KL Rahul called for an accurate DRS

In the same video, Aakash Chopra also shared that KL Rahul should play ahead of Rishabh Pant in the upcoming ODI series between India and England as well.

“I am going with KL Rahul. I am going with continuity. Why would you drop someone who hasn’t done anything wrong just because someone else does well? Rishabh Pant’s ODI record is a work in progress and KL Rahul hasn’t done anything wrong. So Rahul should be the frontrunner,” Aakash Chopra concluded.