Varun Chakravarthy Can be a Huge X-Factor For India in T20 World Cup, Reckons Irfan Pathan

New Delhi: Veteran India pacer Irfan Pathan heaped huge praises on Kolkata Knight Riders’ mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy after his brilliant performance against Royal challengers Bangalore on Monday. The off-spinner has been selected in Team India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup and he doesn’t waste much time to justify his selection. Varun claimed three wickets against RCB for just 13 runs in his quota of four overs as he was also named Man of the Match.

Pathan claims that Varun can be a huge X-factor for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup as most of the teams have not played him in international cricket.

“He can be a huge X-factor. You have not played him in international cricket, you have definitely played him in the IPL but the dynamics are slightly different in the IPL. When you play him in the World Cup after playing him in the IPL, it will still be different, the World Cup pressure will be different and the mystery will remain,” Pathan said on Star Sports.

The former pacer further gave an example of veteran Zaheer Khan’s use of knuckleball in the 2011 World Cup and said something similar can happen for Chakravarthy.

“If you remember the 2011 World Cup, Zaheer Khan started using the knuckle ball in the World Cup and not before that. That was a surprise delivery. So, the surprise factor is definitely beneficial when you play a new thing or bowler. Something similar can happen for Varun Chakravarthy,” he added.

Varun recently made his India debut in 2021 in the T20I series against Sri Lanka where he claimed two wickets in three matches with an economy rate of 5.3.