{"id":22273,"date":"2025-04-29T19:39:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=592809"},"modified":"2025-04-29T19:39:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:09:38","slug":"dc-vs-kkr-why-is-kl-rahul-not-wicket-keeping-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/dc-vs-kkr-why-is-kl-rahul-not-wicket-keeping-today\/","title":{"rendered":"DC vs KKR: Why is KL Rahul not wicket-keeping today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a surprising development during today\u2019s IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders<\/strong>, KL Rahul<\/strong>, known for his consistent role as wicketkeeper-batter, is not donning the gloves<\/strong>. Instead, Abishek Porel<\/strong> has been handed the wicketkeeping duties \u2014 a rare sight considering Porel usually features as an impact substitute for his batting role.<\/p>\n

KL Rahul is neither serving as captain nor wicketkeeper<\/strong> \u2014 with Axar Patel leading the side<\/strong> and Porel named as the primary wicketkeeper<\/strong> in the playing XI. Despite this shift, Rahul remains on the field and is not listed as an impact substitute, ruling out any tactical subbing in for a batting-only role<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two major interpretations emerge:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    Delhi Capitals could be grooming Abishek Porel as a long-term wicketkeeper-batter<\/strong>, giving him match-time responsibilities ahead of future seasons.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    There may be a fitness or precautionary concern regarding KL Rahul\u2019s keeping duties<\/strong>, possibly a lingering niggle that restricts his movement behind the stumps \u2014 although he remains fit enough to field and bat.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This decision raises eyebrows since KL Rahul has consistently played the full match as a keeper-batter<\/strong>, and any sudden change mid-tournament might hint at a new strategy or undisclosed minor injury concern<\/strong>. However, with no official word yet from the franchise, fans and analysts are left speculating.<\/p>\n

    Match context:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • \n

      Delhi Capitals won the toss<\/strong> and opted to field first<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Abishek Porel<\/strong> has been listed as the designated wicketkeeper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      KL Rahul is playing as a specialist batter<\/strong> and is seen fielding.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      No substitution has been made involving Rahul, nor is he in the impact subs list.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Playing XIs:<\/h3>\n

      Delhi Capitals<\/strong>: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (wk), Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mukesh Kumar
      Impact Subs<\/strong>: Ashutosh Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Tripurana Vijay, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira<\/p>\n

      This may well be an early indicator of a shift in Delhi\u2019s long-term strategy \u2014 or a game-to-game call based on physical load management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In a surprising development during today\u2019s IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, KL Rahul, known for\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":42533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[608],"class_list":["post-22273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl","tag-kl-rahul"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}