Rishabh Pant Benched For IND vs BAN Champions Trophy 2025 Match Amid Rumours of Rift With Gautam Gambhir.
Photo : AP
Rishabh Pant was excluded from the Indian Playing XI against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy, fuelling rumours of a rift with coach Gautam Gambhir.
Talks of underlying issues surfaced after sources exclusively confirmed to Times Now that a current India wicketkeeper was unhappy with head coach Gautam Gambhir. The player is currently not the first choice in the ODI playing XI. He feels that there is an external reason behind his loss of his spot in the 50-over format.
KL Rahul is India's first-choice wicketkeeper in ODI cricket. He has been performing well in this role recently, especially during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Pant, who is also part of the Champions Trophy 2025 squad, has secured his spot in Tests but has struggled in white-ball cricket, particularly in ODIs. Since returning from a life-threatening accident, the southpaw has played only one ODI, in 2024.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bat against India in their Champions Trophy opener on Thursday.
India made two changes from their previous ODI match against England earlier this month. The team management brought in Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja in place of Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh XI: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
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