Here's the reason behind KL Rahul's omission from India's T20I squad against Afghanistan

The senior men’s selection committee of the Indian Cricket Board announced India’s squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. The squad was quite eye-catching for Indian cricket fans as the regular skipper Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli made a comeback in the T20Is.

Meanwhile, some of the other big names like Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have been rested from this three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. The fans and experts were left quite curious about the omission of the star wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul from the T20I squad. However, the reason is revealed now by the closed sources to the selectors and the Indian Cricket Board.

“While Rohit and Kohli have earned a call-up, KL Rahul has to wait for now. Rahul has played almost all T20 International games as an opener. But with Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kohli and Rohit in the squad, the top order slots are taken,” reads a report in Indian Express.

“The selectors believe wicketkeepers Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson are better suited as finishers, so Rahul missed out on a slot down the order too. The upcoming IPL will serve as a shoot-out for the two wicket-keeper’s slots for the World Cup,” the report adds further.

The three-match T20I series between India and Afghanistan will commence on Thursday, January 11, 2024; both teams will take on each other in the first T20I of the series at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

Here’s a look at the squad of India for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar.

Here’s a look at the Afghanistan squad for the T20I series against India:

Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmaullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.