3 reasons why India promoting Axar Patel ahead of KL Rahul in the IND vs ENG 2025 ODIs is the wrong move

India's move of promoting all-rounder Axar Patel at No. 5 in the batting order ahead of KL Rahul in the ongoing ODI series against England has sparked severe criticism and debate.

Rahul has been India's No. 5 batter in the format for quite some time now and the sudden need to experiment and change his batting position has left both fans and experts scratching their heads.

Axar Patel has made the most of the opportunity after being promoted up the order. He scored a match-winning 47-ball 52 in the first ODI and remained unbeaten on 41 off 43 in the second, which also came in a winning cause.

However, ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy, this experiment by the Indian team management is the wrong move and here are three reasons why.

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#3 KL Rahul's impressive stats at No. 5

KL Rahul, as mentioned above, has been India's No. 5 batter in the ODI format for quite some time now. Moreover, he has been India's best performer at this position and has impressive numbers.

Batting at No. 5 in ODIs, the wicketkeeper-batter has scored 1259 runs from 30 innings at an average of 57 and a strike-rate of 95 to go with two centuries and nine half-centuries.

Rahul also put up a brilliant display batting at No. 5 during the 2023 World Cup, where he scored 452 runs from 10 innings at an average of 75.33 with a hundred and two fifties. Therefore, changing his position despite such solid numbers does not make real sense.

KL Rahul was India's unsung hero with the bat at the 2023 ODI World Cup. - Source: Getty

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#2 Denting KL Rahul's confidence by pushing him down the order

KL Rahul has often been shunted up and down the batting order. While it finally seemed as though he had a settled batting position in the ODI format, he has once again been subjected to a change in his position.

Pushing Rahul down has not worked well for him and India as well. It has certainly dented his confidence and affected his performance, as can be seen from his scores in the two ODIs against England so far.

Batting at No. 6 in both the matches, he scored two runs off nine balls in the first game and 10 off 14 in the second. Ahead of the Champions Trophy, pushing a player down who has performed well at a certain position and denting his confidence is not an ideal thing to do.

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#1 Lack of enough game time for Rahul ahead of the Champions Trophy

Undoubtedly, KL Rahul has been among India's key players in the ODI format in the recent past. He is expected to play a vital role in the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy as well.

However, the wicketkeeper-batter has not gotten enough game time ahead of the marquee ICC event. In both the ODIs against England, batting at No. 6 has meant that he has come in with not enough runs remaining (as India chased in both games). Thus, he has not batted enough and the lack of game time could backfire at the Champions Trophy.

While Axar Patel has been promoted to No. 5, it remain to be seen if he will continue batting above Rahul even in the Champions Trophy. Should India be under pressure in a game, for example, being reduced to 20 odd for three, it is very unlikely that Axar will walk in at No. 5 in such a position.

If India will go back to KL Rahul in such a situation, not giving him enough game time at a position where he has excelled could certainly backfire in a big tournament.