Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has praised batter Abhishek Sharma for his impressive performance in 2025, calling him the 'next generation X-factor player' and India's best player of the year. Ashwin highlighted Sharma's exceptional powerplay batting and expressed a desire to see him transition to the ODI format. Ashwin also named spinner Varun Chakravarthy as bowler of the year for his contributions to India's wins in the Asia Cup and Champions Trophy.