Ajit Agarkar rejects KL Rahul's request for break, orders him to play England ODIs for Champions Trophy prep: Report

The BCCI selection committee headed by former pacer Ajit Agarkar has decided to reject KL Rahul's request for a break from the entire white-ball home series against England, starting January 22 in Kolkata with the five-match T20I series. Rahul, who anyway is no longer in the scheme of things for T20Is, had reportedly asked for a break from the ODIs as well after a gruelling Border-Gavaskar Trophy where he was one of the very few Indian batters who looked comfortable against the pace and bounce of the Australian quicks. The selection committee had initially agreed to Rahul's request but as a report published in The Times of India on Saturday morning, they have decided to take a U-turn. India's KL Rahul(AFP)

The report said the Agarkar-led selection committee "had a rethink" and decided to ask Rahul to be available for the ODI series against England that starts on February 6. The three-match ODI series will be India's chance to finalise the combination for the Champions Trophy, which begins a couple of weeks later on February 19.

"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," the source was quoted in the report.

Why KL Rahul's request was rejected by BCCI

The decision was taken to give match practice to Rahul, who is slightly ahead of Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson as the first-choice keeper in the ODIs. Although Rahul was dropped for the final ODI Sri Lanka - India's last 50-overs match - his performance in the ODI World Cup in 2023 and the year before is set to give him the edge.

As India haven't played an ODI since August 7, the selectors want a key player like Rahul to be available for the England series.

While the high-profile India batting crumbled in the Test series in Australia, Rahul was among the few batters who got runs. He was the third-highest run-getter for India with 276 runs in 10 innings at an average of 30.66.

Rahul had also sought rest from Karnataka's matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Their quarterfinal will be played over the weekend.

It remains to be seen if he will be available for Karnataka's Ranji Trophy campaign with head coach Gautam Gambhir highlighting the need to play domestic cricket for all India cricketers post the series loss in Australia.

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