He has scored 2265 runs in 68 innings for India in T20Is.
The talks around red-ball cricket have reduced after all the Test series being played. The Asia Cup 2025 is approaching and excitement knows no bounds. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have announced their squad for the tournament scheduled in September. Seniors Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been left out of the squad, and Salman Agha will lead the side. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to declare India’s squad on August 19 and Suryakumar Yadav is expected to lead the side. Though most of the players are a surety for the squad, players like KL Rahul hang in the balance.
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Having said that, there is a lot of speculation about the squad, with respect to the top-order. The options at the top for the Men in Blue are stacked up and there is a lot of competition for the two spots. As of now, Abhishek Sharma looks like the front-runner for the opening spot along with Sanju Samson. However, players like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are also on the side lines. KL Rahul expressed his views about making a comeback into India’s T20I squad.
To be honest, very less. It is not a surprise that KL Rahul’s chances of making it to the Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup are less. His batting style would force him to play at the top of the order, where India do not have a lot of bandwidth. Players like Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma would be firm favourites. If Rahul has o be included, he will have to be slotted in the top three for sure. This is because he would yield the maximum productivity at the top of the order.
There might be another issue with Rahul’s approach in the shortest format. His strike-rate has not been very impressive in T20s for most of his career. Excluding IPL 2025, in the 11 seasons Rahul has played the Indian Premier League (IPL), he has not crossed the 140 mark on nine occasions. That remains to be a very big loophole in his batting approach, especially considering where the game is headed.
Rahul showed some promising signs in IPL 2025 with the Delhi Capitals (DC). He was one of the highest run-scorers for the franchise in the season and scored over 500 runs in the 13 matches played. He scored a solitary ton and three fifties, one of which was his innings in Bengaluru against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). This might help his case, but it might be too late for the Delhi Capitals opener.
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Former India player Aakash Chopra also spoke on the 33-year-old’s chances for the upcoming Asia Cup. He mentioned that Rahul’s batting might get into a few zones where it hits a roadblock, not allowing him to accelerate further to score effectively. The former Lucknow Supergiants (LSG) skipper surely has the game to succeed in the T20 format, and has shown it on multiple occasions. But what might be keeping him away from the game is his own mindset. Chopra think that the opening spot has a lot of players waiting in the line, and Rahul does not stand a chance there.
“If something is stopping him, it’s his own mindset. Sometimes his legs are shackled, and when the mindset is right, he flies with wings. However, then you also get knocks when you feel that he should hit, but he thinks differently. He cannot play as an opener because the opening story has ended, unfortunately, for the time being”, said Chopra.
To add to that, the wicketkeeper’s spot also looks tight for KL Rahul. With players like Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson already in the mix, the chances for Rahul’s return are already bleak. Rahul made his last appearance for India in T20Is in the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. He scored two fifties in that tournament against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, which came at a decent strike rate.
“You will have to play in the middle order, and there, Jitesh Sharma is one, who has done very well, played an excellent IPL, and made his team win. Sanju Samson is opening at the moment. So a keeper is not required” concluded Chopra.
