KL Rahul set to enter 2026 T20 World Cup fray as BCCI mulls big reward after IPL 2025 century: Report
The last time KL Rahul played a T20I game was in November 2022, in the T20 World Cup semifinal against England.
KL Rahul is likely to be rewarded for his consistent show in the ongoing IPL 2025 season with selection into the Indian T20I team for the upcoming white-ball tour of Bangladesh. The last time the India batter played a T20I game was in November 2022, in the T20 World Cup semifinal against England.
Rahul had managed just 128 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 120.75 in the ICC tournament, forcing the selection committee to rethink his place in the Indian T20I set-up. However, with a stellar show in the IPL this season, the 33-year-old, according to a report in the Times of India, has convinced the Ajit Agarkar-led committee "that it's time to hand him a return ticket in T20Is."
The report indicated that when the Indian team tours Bangladesh in August for three ODIs and as many T20Is, Rahul is set to be part of the squad for the shortest format. Notably, the tour will also kick India's last-gasp preparation for the T20 World Cup next year in February, implying a good performance could see Rahul back in the ICC tournament after four years, having failed to make the cut for the 2024 squad.
A stellar IPL for KL Rahul
The development around the Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper-batter came just a day after he smashed a century against the Gujarat Titans, scoring an unbeaten 112 off 65 balls, laced with 14 boundaries and four sixes. En route to the knock, he reached the milestone of 8000 T20 runs, achieving the feat quicker than greats like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. It was his 224th innings in the format.
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However, the knock was not enough to help Delhi win. The Gujarat opening pair of Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill fired on all cylinders to overshadow Rahul's effort, and DC lost by 10 wickets.
Yet, for Rahul, it has been a memorable tournament as a batter thus far, scoring 493 runs in 11 matches, comprising a ton and three fifties, at a strike rate of 148.04. In addition, Rahul also should that he is ready to take responsibility and score runs irrespective of his position in the line-up. He started as a No. 4 for Delhi in this IPL season. He was only moved to the opening slot in the game against Gujarat as Australia's Jake Fraser-McGurk didn't return to India when the tournament resumed last week.
