India, Feb. 13 -- India's head coach Gautam Gambhir, on Wednesday, confirmed the fate of the team's first-choice wicketkeeper going into the Champions Trophy, as he backed KL Rahul for the role despite calls for replacement with the flamboyant Rishabh Pant in the reserves bench. Gambhir also ended silence on the much-criticised ploy of sending Axar Patel to bat ahead of Rahul at No. 5 in the batting order in the recently-concluded ODI series against England.

Rahul was backed ahead of Pant for the ODI series against England as India sought continuity. However, pushed down to No. 6 in the opening two games, the Karnataka star struggled top show a glimpse of his heroics from the 2023 ODI World Cup, which had given India the confidence to pl...