Team India got off to a winning start in their new kits as they defeated England by six wickets in their opening T20 World Cup opening fixture. Even before the ‘Men in Blue’ took to the field, former India cricket Irfan Pathan revealed who, according to him, will be India’s X factor in the showpiece. As it turns out, the player is already living up to the expectations as he returned with figures of 1-26 in a game where a total of 380 runs were scored.
As some may have already guessed, that player is none other than premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. While speaking to Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’, panelist Pathan quipped that even though “mystery” spinner Varun Chakravarthy heads into the tournament on the back of great form, Bumrah will still be India’s x-factor.
“When we talk about Varun Chakravarthy, it’s clear that he will do really well because he has mystery and also is in top form. But according to me in terms of bowling, there is only one X factor and that is Bumrah. There can’t be a bigger X factor than Bumrah in any other team,” remarked Pathan.
Moreover, his fellow panelist Gautam Gambhir also concurred, saying: “Reckon that KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Varun Chakravarthy and probably an X factor, which will be Jasprit Bumrah.”
Meanwhile, Gambhir also listed multiple reasons as to why India would want to win this particular T20 World Cup.
“All he would be looking for is to win the T20 competition and I’m sure that the entire team will be looking to do that as well because it’s been a long 14 years of wait. I’m sure that it’s not only about Virat Kohli that he’s going to be captaining India for the last time in the T20 format, it’s about just winning the tournament and him winning as captain will be icing on the cake.”
India will play one more warm-up game against Australia on Wednesday, October 20, before commencing their campaign against Pakistan on October 24.