KL Rahul provides crucial fitness update ahead of India's 2025 Champions Trophy match against New Zealand

India's keeper-batter KL Rahul has claimed that there are no fitness concerns over any player ahead of their 2025 Champions Trophy match against New Zealand. He opined that logically the Men in Blue should not make any changes to the side considering the short turnaround time for the semifinals. He, however, added that things might change, explaining that he is not part of the leadership group.

Team India will take on New Zealand in their final Group A match of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday, March 2. Skipper Rohit Sharma and senior fast bowler Mohammed Shami went off the field due to fitness issues during India's previous match against Pakistan.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, February 28, Rahul asserted that there is nothing to worry about in the Indian camp concerning the fitness of players. He commented (as quoted by The Times of India):

"Fitness-wise, there are no concerns about anyone missing a game as far as I know."

Both India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semifinals of the 2025 Champions Trophy from Group A. Rahul admitted that there would be a temptation for the think tank to experiment with the team against the Kiwis. On a personal level, though, he opined that he doesn't see that happening. The batter said:

"There are temptations to try different players before the semis, but I am not sure that will be the case. There is little time before the semifinals, so you would want players to get maximum game time. This is my perspective, but things could change. I am not part of the leadership group."

Team India have gone in with unchanged playing XIs in both their matches of the 2025 Champions Trophy. Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, and Arshdeep Singh have been benched for both games.

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KL Rahul's recent form in ODI cricket

Rahul has been preferred over Rishabh Pant as the keeper-batter in the one-day team for some time now. And even, though, he has delivered impressive performances, some experts reckon that Pant should play ahead of him.

If we take a closer look at Rahul's performances in one-day cricket in recent seasons, since the start of 2023, he has featured in 34 matches and has scored 1,184 runs at an average of 56.38 and a strike rate of 87.57, with two hundreds and seven half-centuries to his name.