Not Suryakumar Yadav or Hardik Pandya, Irfan Pathan predicts this star to be India's 'X-factor' in Asia Cup

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that Varun Chakravarthy will be the 'X-factor' for the side in Asia Cup 2025. This comes just a week before the commencement of the continental tournament. Chakravarthy last appearance for the Men in Blue in T20Is came in the five-match series against England earlier this year.

The 34-year-old mystery spinner proved to be too good for the England batters and ended up clinching a total of 14 scalps in five matches. Pathan feels that though the likes of Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel will play important roles for India in Asia Cup, it is Chakravarthy who is the one to watch out for in the tournament.

“Apart from Bumrah, it’s very difficult to find another X-factor. Then there are two all-rounders - Hardik and Axar. You always think of all-rounders as X-factors because they can do two jobs. But I will be excited to see how Varun Chakravarthy performs, because it will be a bit of a redemption story for him,” Pathan told Firstpost.

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Pathan also recalled Chakravarthy's poor performance in the 20221 T20 World Cup where he failed to pick up any wickets in three matches and remarked that he has predicted the latter to be the X-factor on the basis of his superb form in his past few T20Is.

“In the 2021 T20 World Cup, I don’t think he did well. My focus will be on Varun Chakravarthy because he is in solid form right now and has a lot of confidence, so he can definitely bring that X-factor. If I have to pick from all the names I mentioned, I will go with Varun Chakravarthy because he is a bowler,” he added.

Chakravarthy's impressive numbers in white-ball cricket

Chakravarthy has so far featured in 18 T20Is and 4 ODIs for India, picking up 33 wickets in the former and 10 scalps in the latter format. Not only has he contributed well in the side's past few T20I assignments, but also played a massive role in their ICC Champions Trophy campaign earlier this year. The mystery spinner finished as the Men in Blue's joint-highest wicket-taker alongside Mohammed Shami with nine scalps under his name.

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Meanwhile, India will begin their Asia Cup campaign with the clash against UAE on September 10 before ffacing-off against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14. Their group stage will come to a conclusion with the match against Oman on September 19. Suryakumar Yadav & Co. will definitely be aiming to win a record ninth Asia Cup title in their history.