ICC Champions Trophy 2025: 3 Indian players who can make their debut

India kick off their Champions Trophy 2025 schedule with a clash against Bangladesh on Thursday (February 20). The Indian team is currently in Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), and are yet to announce the squad for the ICC event.

But quite a few players can debut, from the obvious Yashasvi Jaiswal to handy all-rounders like Anshul Kamboj or pacers like Yash Dayal. So, who are those three players? 

Here are the three players who can make their India ODI debut

Nitish Kumar Reddy

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s success story is one for the future. The 21-year-old all-rounder already has impressed the selectors across the other two formats - Tests and T20Is - where he’s scored close to 400 runs.

The right-handed batter has been one of India’s best in the ongoing BGT, with 294 runs across seven innings and three wickets with the ball. Nitish was also one of SRH’s most impressive players in IPL 2024, with 303 runs and three wickets with the ball. 

Considering Hardik Pandya’s past concerns with injuries, India could pick him as a backup for Hardik. 

Abhishek Sharma

Even if Rohit Sharma doesn’t announce his retirement, there’s a strong case for Abhishek Sharma to be included in India’s setup for the Champions Trophy. The left-hander is currently on song for Punjab in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy edition, with scores of 93, 170, 66, 17, 41. 

Abhishek has scored 397 runs in the competition, averaging 66.17 with a strike rate of 141.8 and a high score of 170. How can you ignore someone currently batting at his peak form? 

The youngster also provides the bowling depth Gautam Gambhir has always desired. His left-arm spin picked up eight wickets in VHT 2025 with an economy of 5.1. 

Varun Chakaravarthy

Did you know that Varun Chakaravarthy has never played one-day cricket. 

Isn’t that shocking? The mystery spinner is perhaps one of the in-form spinners in India. Over the last year, his stock has also risen past the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi, becoming India’s key spinner.

While Varun hasn’t played a lot of games this year in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he has been one of Tamil Nadu’s great match-winners, with 41 wickets, as Varun is averaging around 15 in the past two editions that he has played. In this edition, the mystery spinner picked up five wickets with an economy of 4.8.