Like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the BCCI selectors had decided to rest KL Rahul in the home ODI Series against England following the tiring Border Gavaskar Trophy. However, the selectors have changed their minds and have felt that the KL needs to revive his touch with the ODIs and has to be available for the ODI series. A report from TOI suggested that selectors felt that KL Rahul needs to play some practice matches before the Champions Trophy starts on February 19. The report said, "The selectors initially decided to rest Rahul, who plays in the middle order and is a wicketkeeper in the ODIs, from the entire white-ball series against England at home. However, they had a rethink and the BCCI has now asked him to play in the ODI series so that he gains some match practice ahead of the Champions Trophy in February." Read also: Manoj Tiwary Slams Gautam Gambhir for Hypocrisy and Bias KL Rahul skipped the quarterfinal in Vijay Hazare Trophy KL Rahul team Karnataka are facing the Baroda in the quarterfinal. With Mayank Agarwal leading Karnataka, Krunal Pandya is on the other side as Baroda's captain. KL's addition would have been a great boost, but he has decided to opt out and is probably set to miss the Ranji Trophy. However, Prasidh Krishna and Devdutt Padikkal are playing in the knockout phase of the tournament. Abhimanyu Easwaran, the other member of the BGT squad, returned a day earlier to join the Bengal for the VHT. Rahul scored 276 runs in the five-match Australia series, starting with 26 and 77. He opened the innings throughout, except for the fourth Test where he batted at number 3. In the Champions Trophy, he is expected to continue as a middle-order batter, but if he is about to keep his wicketkeeping gloves, it is yet uncertain.