Which player will be the X factor in Champions Trophy 2025

Which player will be the X factor in Champions Trophy 2025, Suresh Raina has already revealed the name

There is now one month left for the start of the Champions Trophy 2025. The tournament will start from February 19. The Indian team will start its campaign from February 20. The Indian team was announced on Saturday for the Champions Trophy 2025. Captain Rohit Sharma and Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar came for a press conference. Now Suresh Raina has told who will be the X factor in the Champions Trophy 2025.

New Delhi. The Indian team for the Champions Trophy 2025 was announced on Saturday. There is 1 month left for the tournament to begin. The Champions Trophy 2025 will begin from February 19. This tournament is returning after 8 years. Earlier, the Champions Trophy was played in 2017.

Kuldeep will be the X factor

Ahead of the start of the Champions Trophy 2025, former India batsman Suresh Raina believes that chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav will be the X-factor for the team in the middle overs in the upcoming Champions Trophy. Kuldeep, who has not played any competitive cricket since undergoing a hernia surgery in November, was on Saturday named in the squad for the ODIs and the Champions Trophy against England.

Kuldeep is working very hard

"The way you look at it, Arshdeep will play a key role along with Bumrah, who will also prove to be very lethal in the death overs. But the most important player in the middle who can put a bit of pressure will be Kuldeep Yadav. We all remember how he got Babar Azam out in the 2023 World Cup and changed the match. Right now, he is working very hard at the NCA and he also has the skill to deceive batsmen with a very different kind of action," Raina said at an event on Sunday.

Sky's absence will play a role

Along with this, Raina said that if Suryakumar was in the team, he would have been the X factor. The team will miss him. Now the responsibility will be on the top three batsmen who are not in form right now. Suryakumar is a batsman who can bat in any kind of situation.

Kuldeep's performance in ODIs

Talking about Kuldeep Yadav's performance in ODIs, he has played 106 matches so far. During this time, Kuldeep has taken 172 wickets in 103 innings at an average of 26.00 and an economy of 4.99. He has achieved the feat of taking 5 wicket haul twice and 4 wicket haul 7 times in ODIs. 6/25 is his best bowling performance in this format. The chinaman bowler has also scored 205 runs in ODIs.

Indian team for Champions Trophy 2025

Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.

Indian team for ODI series against England

Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja. Dailymintz