Why India prefer KL Rahul over Rishabh Pant in Champions Trophy

KL Rahul couldn’t help himself in the moment. Just as Virat Kohli was walking past him, dismissed playing a big shot in the end moments of the semifinal against Australia, Rahul blurted out in apparent exasperation, ‘Mein maar tha ..’ (I was hitting) – words to that effect. And he was. He had perfectly sussed out the match situation, had taken the aggressive role, letting Kohli flow through unhindered, but an instinctive reaction had felled Kohli, who would later be seen explaining why he played that shot to his team-mates Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.

But that understanding and playing the situation is the reason why Gautam Gambhir has chosen to go with Rahul, rather than Pant. In this Indian team, with Hardik Pandya the designated big hitter in the lower order, and with allrounders like Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel on either side, Gambhir and Rohit Sharma’s punt has been to go with the solidity of Rahul, especially considering the sluggish conditions in Dubai. It has worked out rather well for India, thus far. And especially when Rahul is more than capable of the big hitting; he even has been exclusively working on them in the training sessions.

One of the constant themes in India’s net sessions in Dubai has been the sight of Rahul invariably walking in among the first set of batsmen and indulging in some big hits. It hasn’t mattered whether he is facing the seamers or spinners or throwdown specialists. His intention has been very clear – to bring out a big shot, especially via aerial, as early as possible. Sometimes it happens off the first ball, if not the second or later, but there have been at least three such big hits by the time he has faced 10 deliveries. These haven’t been the power-hitting that many T20 globetrotters put themselves through, but more of him getting used to the situation he is going to come across more often than not when he walks out at No 6.

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It isn’t an easy role that Rahul has chosen to embrace. When there are failures, which will definitely be there because that’s the nature of the beast, questions will be raised over his spot particularly when Pant is warming the bench. Rahul admitted there is little margin of error.

“There is – I won’t lie. I mean, he’s obviously a very, very talented player and he’s shown all of us what he can do and how aggressive and how quickly he can change the game. So yes, there’s always the temptation for the team as well, whoever’s the captain, the coach too – there’s always that temptation to either play him or play me. There’s always that. But yeah, for me, I just if I’m given the opportunity, I try and see what I can do best.” So far, he has been nailing those opportunities.

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It isn’t easy being Rahul, though. Irrespective of the format, there are always some talks going around him good and bad both. These days his stocks as a T20 batsman may have gone down, in the Test arena he is still figuring out whether to bat at the top or in the middle-order. Sometimes, he doesn’t have a choice. He is moved up and down because somebody isn’t available and he has to be accommodated, even if it means he has to keep wickets.

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In ODIs, there is little to no doubt that he is amongst the first names in the teamsheet, for multiple reasons, where he is amongst those players who has shown flexibility like no other. Take this Champions Trophy for instance, with no third opener in the squad, if one of Rohit Sharma or Shubman Gill were to be unavailable, India just need to look at Rahul. Then in the middle-order, he can be used as a floater. In the lead up to the 2023 World Cup, when India embraced a new intent-driven approach, having Rahul at No 5 gave them stability. Even if they ended up losing wickets while trying to play the aggressive brand of cricket, India knew they could fall back on Rahul. With 1299 runs in 31 innings at an incredible average of 56.47 (which is higher than even MS Dhoni) as No 5, he owned that spot.

India’s KL Rahul plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and Bangladesh at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo) India’s KL Rahul plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and Bangladesh at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo)

Now, since Gambhir came on board as head coach, Rahul’s ODI career has taken another new path. With India not having any left-handers in the top 4, and Gambhir being a huge advocate of keeping a left-right combo going in the middle, one of them had to be moved around. Despite having the numbers to continue batting at No 5, one that has earned the demotion has been Rahul, who since the ODIs in Sri Lanka has walked out to bat at No 6 on six occasions and once at No 5 and 7.

Batting at No 6 means, he is invariably playing the finisher’s role where there are more chances of him getting only few deliveries to leave an impact in the game. In conditions like Dubai, it is an altogether different challenge to walk in and straight away get down to finding boundaries and sixes. It is these scenarios, which haven’t arrived so far in the Champions Trophy that is making Rahul bat the way he does in the nets. Make no mistake, it has been quite an exhibition to watch him take the left foot out of the way and hit the ball anywhere between long-on or mid-wicket. He has also provided some jaw-dropping moments as well when the left foot moves across and he effortlessly lofts the ball through the off-side.

“I don’t think anyone prepares for an ideal scenario. All of us prepare for a realistic scenario that we might walk in,” Rahul said last week about his approach in the nets.

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He would then go on to elaborate. “I’ve moved from number five to number six and sometimes to number seven. So, I realized I need to have that skill to hit sixes probably from ball one or sometimes be able to play with a really high strike rate. So that’s why you see me practicing all of that,” he said.

So far in this Champions Trophy, he has batted on three occasions, out of which two have been chases. Against New Zealand, when India batted first, he came to bat in the 30th over, but got out in the 40th over. However in two tricky chases, it has been his calmness and ability to play those high-risk shots under pressure that has helped him to take India across the line by staying unbeaten. In the first match against Bangladesh, where he remained unbeaten on 41, he scored just one boundary and two sixes. Against Australia in the semi-finals, with Kohli dropping anchor after the loss of Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel, when Rahul walked India were still 87 runs away with 15 overs to go.

So for 17 deliveries he faced, Rahul kept working the angles, but the moment the asking rate went over 6 runs an over, he walloped Tanveer Sangha and Ben Dwarshuis for boundaries in successive overs before hitting Adam Zampa for a straight-six despite long-on and long-off in place. And once Kohli fell, and Pandya came in, he went back to deal in singles and twos before finishing the game with a six. It isn’t easy being Rahul, but then it’s a state he is intimate with all through his career.

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