The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made a U-turn on India batter KL Rahul's potential participation during the upcoming home white-ball series against England.

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Rahul had requested not to be picked for the series but the board has now asked him to play the ODI leg of the series.

"The selectors initially decided to rest Rahul, who plays in the middle order and is a wicketkeeper in the ODIs, from the entire white-ball series against England at home. However, they had a rethink and the BCCI has now asked him to play in the ODI series so that he gains some match practice ahead of the Champions Trophy in February," reported the Times of India newspaper citing a source.

Also Read: Champions Trophy 2025: BCCI may delay India squad announcement by a week

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What Changed About Rahul?

The BCCI may want Rahul as the the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter option for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Hence the need for some match practice. England are coming to India for five T20Is and three ODIs. The T20Is begin on January 22 and Rahul is almost certain to sit out the five-match series.

As for ODIs, the matches are scheduled on February 6, 9 and 12  and a week after Champions Trophy starts - on February 19.

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The squad for the England ODIs and the ICC Champions Trophy is more or less expected to be same and hence the board's decision to ask Rahul to play.

The batter also played the role of wicketkeeper in ODI World Cup 2023 for India when the first-choice option Rishabh Pant was out of action for months, having been injured after a major car accident. Rahul impressed the selectors with his performance to leapfrog Pant as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter for India in ODIs at least.

Most recently, Rahul played for India the the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Australia and scored 276 runs in 10 innings at an average of 37. He was India's third-highest run-getter behind Yashasvi Jaiswal (319) and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (298).