India and England are set to face each other in the first of three ODIs on Thursday (Feb 6) in Nagpur. Both the teams will be looking at these ODIs as a dress rehearsal to the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which begins on February 19 - a week after the last India vs England ODI.

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India, after winning the T20I series 4-1, is back to its ODI set-up with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the squad along with Mohammed Shami.

The hosts will be aiming to finalise their squad and the team combination for the ICC Champions Trophy as well. The major questions India needs answers to are the choice of wicketkeeper and bowling combination.

Also Read: India vs England 1st ODI Score and Update

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With both KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant in the squad, it'll be interesting to see who India choose. Rahul has been keeping wicket in ODIs, including 2023 ODI World Cup, when Pant was rehabilitating after a car crash in December 2022. 

Pant returned for IPL 2024 and was India's wicketkeeper in T20 World Cup 2024. He also kept wickets in Tests after that.

As for the bowling combination, the Indian team management would be closely monitoring Shami's form. The pacer made a comeback to the international cricket in T20I series against England after being out for more than an year.

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In the five-T20I series against the English side, Shami played two games - 3rd T20I in Rajkot and 5th T20I in Mumbai. He went wicketless in Rajkot but took 3/25 in Mumbai match. The pacer, however, didn't finish his quota of four overs in both the games. He bowled three overs in Rajkot and gave away 25 runs. 

England's innings in Mumbai match was over in 10.3 overs out of which Shami only bowled 2.3 overs. 

In the spin department, India have added Varun Chakaravarthy to the squad after his 14-wicket Player of the Series performance in the England T20Is. Kuldeep Yadav is also making his return after an injury so it'll be interesting to see who will India pick.

India's Predicted Playing XI vs England in 1st ODI:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul/Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh