Star player unhappy with Gautam Gambhir after being dropped from India’s playing 11 for 2025 Champions Trophy: Reports

Team India's off-field woes continue in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy as delicate dressing room unrest surfaces. A wicket-keeper batter is reportedly frustrated with head coach Gautam Gambhir for not being considered in the playing XI for the upcoming event.

The Men in Blue only had three ODIs against England recently to experiment and work out a combination that ticks all the boxes. In the series whitewash, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Varun Chakrvarathy, and Harshit Rana all made their respective ODI debuts, while the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, and Kuldeep Yadav were rotated accordingly.

Rishabh Pant was the sole player in the squad to not avail any game time. There were talks of the wicket-keeper batter potentially featuring in the last match as part of the rotation, but KL Rahul made the cut yet again.

Following the series win, Gambhir had asserted that KL Rahul is Team India's first-choice wicket-keeper in ODIs, and also that Pant has no choice but to wait for his opportunity.

“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,” Gambhir said after the third ODI in Ahmedabad (via Indian Express).

According to a report by Times Now, Pant is not pleased with just warming the bench, and playing second-fiddle in the 50-over format.

"Sources have exclusively confirmed to Times Now that a current India wicketkeeper is unhappy with head coach Gautam Gambhir. The player is currently not the first choice in the playing XI for ODIs. He feels that there is an external reason behind him losing his spot in the 50-over format," the report read.

Rishabh Pant brings in a valuable trait with his left-handed batting, but the management have backed Axar Patel to don the particular role in the middle order to maintain the combination.

The move to promote the all-rounder up the order has also led to KL Rahul coming in at No.6. The wicket-keeper batter has largely struggled while operating towards the end of the innings, and scored only 52 runs in the England series. However, he did score a positive 29-ball 40 in the series finale.

Rishabh Pant has only one ODI since his return from an injury layoff

The flamboyant wicket-keeper batter has had a start-stop ODI career, and looked at his brightest just before the fateful accident in late 2022. He scored his maiden ODI ton in the 2022 tour of England, and looked set for bigger things. However, he had to miss the 2023 ODI season, and the subsequent World Cup due to injury.

He returned to the format in the away series against Sri Lanka in August 2024, scoring six runs off nine deliveries in his sole appearance. The wicket-keeper was struck on his knee off a Hardik Pandya delivery ahead of India's Champions Trophy 2025 opener against Bangladesh, but the blow is not expected to hamper his availability for the tournament.