Gautam Gambhir chases few unanswered questions as India begin quest for Champions Trophy 2025 with SL ODIs

Newly-appointed Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir is chasing a few unanswered questions as the Men in Blue preparefor the road to the Champions Trophy with the three-match ODIs against Sri Lanka starting August 2 in Colombo. The return of Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli boosts the team’s morale, as newcomers like Riyan Parag and Harshit Rana eye debuts.

However, amidst returns and debuts, everyone seeks answers to who stands tall between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the keeper-batter in ODIs, where does Shreyas Iyer fit in the middle order, will Hardik Pandya return to the scheme of things in the One-Day format and who is India’s third-choice seamer?

The Big Question – KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant?

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With Rohit, Shubman Gill and Kohli likely to be India’s top three at the Champions Trophy 2025, the question arises - who plays in the middle order? Will KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant both play? And if that happens, where does Shreyas Iyer come into the picture?

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KL Rahul’s return to the squad for the Sri Lanka ODIs ring warning bells for Pant, who recently won the T20 World Cup in the Americas. Although he started ahead of Sanju Samson in the 20-team tournament, Pant could have to wait for his turn in the ODIs since the selectors picked KL Rahul as an incumbent keeper-batter for the three matches.

A match-winner in the middle order and more than a tidy keeper, with his exploits in the 2023 World Cup and away South Africa ODIs enough for evidence, KL is ahead in the pecking order to keep wickets in the SL One-Dayers.

In that scenario, Pant sits out, and Shreyas Iyer makes his much-awaited return to the Indian Team since his fallout with BCCI late last year. But should Gambhir decide against continuing with KL Rahul as the first-choice keeper despite Pant being available for selection, Team India could field all three, provided Pant keeps wickets.

The selectors cleared why they dropped Hardik Pandya for the SL ODIs, with fitness being a massive concern. Although they haven’t discarded the chances for his return, the selectors want Pandya to work on his bowling fitness to work his way back into the team.

Now, since he’s absent, the newer management will look to try Riyan Parag in his place.

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The Assam all-rounder was impressive during the SL T20Is, not entirely with the bat, but with the ball in hand, which helped him press his case for his ODI debut in Sri Lanka.

With the ace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami sure of playing all games, the selectors are undecided about whom to pick as the third seamer.

Although Mohammed Siraj leads the race on seniority, the left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh has worked hard to get into contention.

With Siraj looked upon as a better longer-format bowler, Arshdeep has excelled in T20 cricket, finishing with the most wickets for India (17) in the T20 WC.

However, outside of these two, the selectors and the team management have other options like Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan or even Harshit Rana to look at should he make his ODI debut in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the eight-team tournament will be played in the February-March window next year, with Pakistan slated to host the tournament.

(With inputs from agencies)