KL Rahul Shines in ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Leads India to Glory with Unbeaten Knocks

KL Rahul, often maligned and trolled, proved his worth in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, providing a calming influence and giving direction to the team's needs in crunch situations. His unbeaten knocks in the semifinal and final were a testament to his ability to perform under pressure. As skipper Rohit Sharma said, "KL obviously has been doing a lot of challenging work for the team for so many years now. And I'm very, very happy with how he managed to pull this tournament and batted in pressure situations, both in semifinals and this game as well."

In the semifinal against Australia, Rahul told Virat Kohli to protect one end and volunteered to take risks in every over. When Kohli lost his cool and threw away his wicket, Rahul blocked one end and stayed till the end to see the side over the line. Similarly, in the final, when Axar holed out to long-off, Rahul rose to the occasion, remaining unbeaten on 34 and playing a few crucial big hits to ensure that the asking rate did not get out of hand.

Rahul's presence was a symbol of calm, sensible, and resolve, and his ability to perform in pressure situations was a gift to the Indian team. His aggregate for the tournament was 140, with three unbeaten knocks, though notably, without a single half-century. As Rahul said, "Cricket's a team game and whatever the team requires of you, you need to be able to do that. You need to be able to accept that firstly and find a way to put in performances for the team and understand what your role is and what the responsibility is." With his unbeaten knocks in the knockout games, Rahul proved himself to be a vital cog in the Indian team's ICC Champions Trophy 2025 victory.