India's road to CT 2025: Rahul vs Pant, and other key questions

KL Rahul is the incumbent wicketkeeper-batter; he kept (and led) during India's previous 50-overs assignment in South Africa this January. It's a role he was backed to play since last year's Asia Cup leading into the ODI World Cup 2023, despite India having a specialist option in Ishan Kishan.

Rahul repaid that faith in his first innings upon return from a hamstring injury, hitting a century during an unbroken 233-run stand with Virat Kohli against Pakistan. At the World Cup, Rahul played a key role in the middle order, hitting 452 runs with two half-centuries and a century.

With the gloves, Rahul was mostly tidy, at times outrageously good, the validation of which were the two "best fielder of the match" medals he won, a reward from fielding coach T Dilip that became increasingly popular among players (and fans) during the World Cup.

Unless he's been specifically asked to not keep, considering his history of injuries, Rahul could continue in the role. This means Rishabh Pant, who the team management backs to return across all formats, may have to wait a tad bit longer to make an ODI comeback following his car accident.

A toss-up between Rahul and Pant could mean Shreyas Iyer retains his spot in the middle order. Iyer had been in prolific ODI form right through last year's World Cup and the subsequent South Africa series but fell out of favour with the team management for not prioritising domestic cricket. Iyer subsequently led Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] to their first IPL trophy in 10 years in 2024.

All of Iyer, Pant and Rahul could feature in the XI, but that will mean India play just five specialist bowlers, an option they're less likely to take.

India have longed for batters in the top six who can bowl. With Hardik Pandya unavailable, they have two options to choose from: Riyan Parag and Shivam Dube. Both featured in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, where Parag bowled his full quota of overs in two of the three matches, while Dube wasn't called in to bowl in the only game he played.

The Impact Player rule may have dimmed Parag's bowling opportunities in IPL 2024 (he bowled just three overs), but in India's 3-0 T20I series sweep, he impressed with not just his control but skills too. His ability to switch between offspin and ripping legbreaks depending on match-ups could give him an edge.

Of course, bowling in T20Is and in the 50-over format isn't the same. But over the past year, he's built up a decent body of work in the longer format.

He was East Zone's second-highest wicket-taker (11 wickets) while bowling 43.2 overs across five innings at an economy of 4.84 at the 2023-24 Deodhar Trophy. He carried that bowling (and batting) form into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he picked up 11 wickets and made a chart-topping 510 runs, including a run of seven straight fifty-plus scores.

Parag was also used regularly as a sixth bowler for India Emerging at last year's Asia Cup. Considering all this, there could be a temptation to reward him with an ODI cap in Colombo over the next week or so.

Meanwhile, Dube's only ODI so far came over five years ago. While he forced his way into the national reckoning on the back of a successful IPL 2024 for Chennai Super Kings in his role as a spin-hitter, his bowling workloads across formats - domestic cricket included - have been minimal.

With Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj near certainties in a first-choice India XI, it is likely one of Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Harshit Rana could vie for the third seamer's spot, along with a number of others on the fringes, like Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan.

Arshdeep has made a pitch to be a T20I regular but has featured in just six ODIs so far. In Sri Lanka, he is likely to be second-in-command to Siraj.

If the team management is keen to play a third frontline seamer, it's possible India could field a debutant in Harshit who along with his bristling pace can bowl the into-the-pitch cutters that be bowled a lot of, particularly in the death, at the IPL.

Rana was one of KKR's breakout stars, finishing as the side's joint second-highest wicket-taker in a victorious campaign. He is also part of BCCI's target pool of players. Rana has built up a decent body of work over the past year, picking 22 wickets in 14 games at the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy over the last two seasons.

Like Rana, Khaleel has been a regular wicket-taker for Rajasthan and can swing the new ball both ways, something he exhibited while picking 17 wickets at IPL 2024 for Delhi Capitals. Khaleel was one of the fast-bowling reserves in India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad, and has featured in the T20Is in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka - all indication that he's very much part of the white-ball plans.