KL Rahul will captain the Indian team in the ODI series against South Africa. According to a media report, Rahul has confirmed that he will bat at number 6 in the upcoming ODI series. Let us tell you that the regular captain of the ODI team, Shubman Gill is not a part of this series due to injury. In such a situation, the opening slot had become vacant, but Rahul says that he will bat at sixth position in the ODI team like before.

KL Rahul was earlier seen batting at the sixth position in the ODI series against Australia and before that also in the Champions Trophy 2025. According to RevSportz, KL Rahul said, “I will bat in the same order, at number 6. We will try to play spin bowling better.”

KL Rahul opens in Test matches, but in ODI matches he has established himself well in the middle order. At number six, Rahul’s ODI average is more than 40. However, he has not been able to score even a single fifty or century in this sequence.

Rohit-Jaiswal will open

It has not been confirmed yet, but in the absence of Shubman Gill, it is almost certain that Yashasvi Jaiswal will come to open with Rohit Sharma. Whereas number-3 is already with Virat Kohli. The absence of vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is also raising big questions regarding number-4. It is possible that Rishabh Pant will play in this order. Since Rahul has said that he will bat at number 6, there can be a place for Rituraj Gaikwad in the middle order.

Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar can play 2 spin bowling all-rounders, while Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana can handle the burden of fast bowling. Kuldeep Yadav can play the role of main spinner.

India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Verma, KL Rahul (captain), Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Rituraj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.

The first ODI match between India and Australia will be played in Perth on 19 October. Shubman Gill will be captaining the Indian ODI team for the first time, while all eyes will be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has predicted the Indian playing eleven for the first ODI. He has also included Harshit Rana in his final-11.

Irfan Pathan chose playing eleven

While analyzing on his YouTube channel, Irfan Pathan selected Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as openers. Virat Kohli has been chosen at number-3, who is just 54 runs away from surpassing Kumar Sangakkara (14234 runs) in terms of scoring the most runs in ODI history. Irfan Pathan has given the fourth position to vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, while the fifth position and the responsibility of wicket-keeping has been handed over to KL Rahul.

Fast bowling all-rounder will be Nitish Kumar Reddy. If Nitish gets a chance in the playing eleven, he will be making his ODI debut. On the other hand, the role of spin bowling all-rounder has been given to Akshar Patel. For the fast and bouncy pitches of Australia, Irfan Pathan has kept 3 main fast bowlers in the playing eleven. He showed confidence in Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj, while chose main spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep who was the highest wicket taker in the Asia Cup with 17 wickets in the tournament. He has chosen Harshit Rana as the third bowler.

Irfan Pathan’s playing eleven: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.

Harshit Rana should be fed

Talking about keeping Harshit Rana in the playing eleven, Irfan Pathan said, “I think Harshit will play. He is the only bowler in this team who can also bat. I think he can be played at number 8. I see him in this position as the third fast bowler. This will be a big opportunity for him to do well.”

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Team India will not be announced today for the Test series against the West Indies. There were reports that during the Indo-Bangladesh match today, Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar can announce Team India. The NDTV report claimed that the announcement of the Indian Squad will now be held at 12:30 pm tomorrow. According to reports, speculation about making many major changes in the Indian squad is in full swing.

According to NDTV, it has been confirmed that now the press conference will be held at 12:30 pm on 25 September for the announcement regarding the Indian squad. Earlier it was also told that the press conference was going to be held on September 24, but due to logistics problems, the conference started to start.

There will be many questions in the minds of the selectors regarding the squad. The players’ fitness, form as well as the emphasis will be on creating a good balance in the team. On the one hand, Rishabh Pant has not fully recovered from the foot injury, so the wicketkeeper’s first choice against the West Indies may be Dhruv Jurael. On the other hand, it has been revealed about Shreyas Iyer that he has said that he wants to take a break from Test cricket.

The first Test of India and West Indies will be played in Ahmedabad from October 2. The second Test match will be played in Delhi from October 10. This will be the second Test series of the Indian team’s World Test Championship in the 2025-27 cycle. Earlier, he played a five-match series 2–2 draw with England.

2025 Asia Cup will begin from today. The first match of the tournament will be played between Afghanistan and Hong Kong. At the same time, Team India will play their first match in the tournament on tomorrow i.e. September 10. In the league stage, the Indian team will face UAE, Pakistan and Oman. In the Asia Cup, big information has been revealed about India’s playing eleven.

According to sources, Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav, Finisher Rinku Singh and wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Samson will not be part of the playing XI in the match against UAE on Wednesday. Also, Harshit Rana will not get a chance.

Captain Surya will play at number three

Vice-captain Shubman Gill and T20’s number-1 batsman Abhishek Sharma will start the innings. After this, captain Suryakumar Yadav will be seen playing at number three. Number-2 batsman Tilak Verma of T20 on number four will get a chance. After this all -rounder Hardik Pandya will be seen in action. By the way, Akshar Patel can also be seen playing on this number.

Shivam Dubey is being given a place in the last eleven. Dubey has been preferred over Rinku Singh. He will be seen playing at number six. If the letter is promoted, then Dubey can also play on seven. The main role of Dubey will be to speak on the spinners of opposition teams. Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma has also been replaced in the playing XI. Jitesh is an expert in scoring runs fast, and this will be his role in Team India.

The bowling consists of Varun Chakraborty, Jaspreet Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. There are also Akshar Patel, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey to support these three. If we look at the playing XI of India, there is a lot of depth in batting. There are reliable batsmen in the team till number eight. Bowling also looks very strong.

India’s leaked playing XI for 2025 Asia Cup- Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Akshar Patel, Varun Chakraborty, Jaspreet Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.