KL Rahul current form: How has he performed in his last 10 matches before 2025 Champions Trophy? 

Team India batter KL Rahul enters the 2025 Champions Trophy as the first-choice wicketkeeper, but not with plenty of runs under his belt or confidence. His last 10 matches across formats began with the tour of Australia in November 2024.

KL Rahul was assigned to open the innings in Rohit Sharma's absence in the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth. He scored 26 and 77 in the first and the second innings, respectively, as India recorded a historic win. Ahead of the second Test (pink ball) in Adelaide, he was involved in a warm-up contest, where he scored an unbeaten 27.

He continued to open the innings in the next two Tests despite Rohit Sharma's return. The right-handed batter struggled in the pink ball Test, scoring 37 and 7 in the first and the second innings, respectively. He chipped in with 84 in the first innings of the Gabba Test and remained unbeaten on 4 in the second innings, as rain forced a draw.

He was demoted to No. 3 in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, where he scored 24 and 0 in the heart-wrenching defeat. In the series finale in Sydney, he registered scores of 4 and 13 on a tough pitch.

Rahul featured for Karnataka in their Ranji Trophy game against Haryana in line with the BCCI's guidelines. The right-handed batter scored 26 and 43 in the drawn encounter.

In the three-match ODI series against England, though he won the race against Rishabh Pant to be the first-choice wicketkeeper, he had to don a different role. With the left-handed Axar Patel promoted up the order, Rahul had to play at No. 6.

He struggled to close out run chases in the first two ODIs, departing after scoring 2 and 10 in Nagpur and Cuttack, respectively. In the final ODI in Ahmedabad, he got some valuable time at the crease and scored a 29-ball 40 in the thumping win.

"KL is the No. 1 wicketkeeper for us" - Team India head coach on KL Rahul

KL Rahul has been a constant presence in the ODI middle order for quite a while now and has relatively been among the runs as well. While there has been a temptation to unleash Rishabh Pant, who brings his left-handed and X-factor trait with him, head coach Gautam Gambhir asserted that KL Rahul was India's first-choice wicketkeeper heading into the Champions Trophy.

During the post-match presentation after the third ODI against England, Gambhir said (via The Indian Express):

“At the moment, KL is a No.1 wicketkeeper for us, and he’s delivered for us. And see, when you’ve got two wicketkeepers in this squad, you can’t play both the wicketkeepers with the kind of quality we’ve got. Hopefully, whenever he (Pant) gets that opportunity, he should be ready for it. That’s all I can say at the moment. Right now, KL is the one who’s going to start."

Team India will kickstart their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday, February 20.