Delhi: Team India's drought of not winning any ICC trophy in the last few years ended last year. Since then, despite Team India's poor record in the Test format, the Champions Trophy is a new and big special challenge for the team. All India's matches are in Dubai and the first question is to select the right team for the tournament. It is not yet decided when the BCCI selectors will choose the team, but January 12 is the deadline for choosing the interim team from the ICC.

The expectation is that the selectors will choose the team for the Champions Trophy along with the team for the white ball series against England. The matches of the England series will be dress rehearsal for the Champions Trophy. From now on it is believed that there are some players who are ready for ODI International debut and if they do not debut against England then there are strong chances of their debut in the Champions Trophy. See the top contenders:

Yashasvi Jaiswal: Yashasvi's strike rate of 65+ in Test and 164+ in T20 International is proof that he is ready for ODI International debut. Khabbu Yashasvi's performance against Australia made him a strong contender for the Champions Trophy team and the poor form of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill has equally contributed to this. Therefore, 23 year old Yashasvi is ready for his 50 over debut in Dubai.

Nitish Kumar Reddy: Even though Nitish was discussed in Australia for red ball cricket, do not forget that his strike rate in 3 T20 Internationals is 180 and the most important thing is that he does not give his wicket cheaply. In ODIs, Team India still needs an anchor who, like Bevan, will also keep an eye on the strike rate. Nitish is fit in this role and ready to debut and also a perfect backup to Hardik Pandya.

Abhishek Sharma: While Rohit Sharma played the role of Abhishek Sharma on his ODI debut, the rest was done by Khabbu himself while currently playing for Punjab under Vijay Hazare. The scores of 66, 170, 93 and 51 in 4 consecutive matches are proof of this. Till January 6, in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, he has scored 448 runs in 7 innings at an average of 64 and strike rate of 131. He is also an all-rounder and the team is in dire need of such a change bowler. Why shouldn't he get a chance on this farm?

Varun Chakraborty: The same Varun Chakraborty who is called the mystery spinner and now that the season is of change in the team, Varun is also giving competition to Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi. Brilliant performances for KKR in IPL 2024 and the title, leading to a break into the T20 International squad against Bangladesh and South Africa and now set to play as a finger spinner in the Champions Trophy.

Prabhsimran Singh: BCCI says that if you play domestic cricket then the selectors should also give importance to the performance of domestic cricket. On this argument the selectors can give a chance to Prabhasimran of Punjab. Wicketkeeper-batsman, age below 25 years, strike rate 146+ in IPL and 106+ in List A cricket, so why not get a chance? In the current Vijay Hazare Trophy, till 6 January 2025, he has 484 runs in 7 innings at 131+ strike rate and is at fourth place in the list. Scores of 150*, 125 and 137 in 3 consecutive matches and partnerships with Abhishek for the first wicket of 150 runs (vs. Mumbai), 298 runs (vs. Saurashtra) and 196 runs (vs. Hyderabad) respectively.

These 5 are contenders for ODI debut.