Robin Uthappa picks India playing 11 for IND vs ENG 2025 1st ODI; no place for Rishabh Pant & Washington Sundar

Former cricketer Robin Uthappa left out Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar as he picked his India playing XI for the first of the three-match ODI series against England. The series opener begins in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6.

In addition, Uthappa believes that only one out of two spin all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel – should play in the XI. The 39-year-old didn’t give an exact reason for omitting Sundar but chose specialist spin bowlers - Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav for the first ODI.

Chakravarthy has been rewarded with a place in India’s squad for the ODI series against England for his outstanding performances in the five T20Is. The mystery spinner bagged 14 wickets in five T20Is as the Men in Blue secured the five-match series by a 4-1 margin. The 33-year-old has scalped 31 wickets in his 12 T20Is since his return to international cricket after being ignored for over three years.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep has returned to the squad after recovering from a groin injury he sustained during the first of the three-match Test series against New Zealand in Bengaluru last year. The 30-year-old missed the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy to undergo surgery in Germany before his rehab at the BCCI’s Centre for Excellence.

The left-arm spinner bagged 15 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 4.45 for runners-up India at the 2023 ODI World Cup. He also picked up four wickets in three ODIs against Sri Lanka last year.

On the wicketkeeping front, Uthappa reckoned that KL Rahul is a better option than Pant in ODIs. He said on his YouTube channel (from 0:30 onwards):

“I think KL Rahul should be picked in ODIs. KL Rahul should be given preference. His numbers speak much better than Rishabh Pant.”

Performance in ODIs:

Rahul: 2,851 runs in 77 ODIs @49.15

Pant: 871 runs in 31 ODIs @33.50

Notably, Rahul has the most runs amongst middle-order batters in the last five years. Take a look:

Besides Sundar and Pant, Uthappa picked Shubman Gill over Yashasvi Jaiswal as Rohit Sharma's opening partner in his India playing XI for the series opener. Gill has amassed 2,328 runs in 47 ODIs, averaging 58.20, including six tons and 13 half-centuries with a best score of 208.

Jaiswal, on the other hand, is yet to make his ODI debut.

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Robin Uthappa’s India playing XI for 1st ODI vs England

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel/ Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy.