Simple Solidity Question - Gettting Error in IERC20(path[0]).transferFrom

Question

I am trying to call a simple contract, which I created, from ether.js to swap DAI to USDT on KOVAN. Essentially, the sol function takes the passed array of address[] and is doing a transfer from sender (i.e. me) to the contract address.

Solidity :

function swapTokensForTokens(
        uint256 amountIn,
        uint256 amountOutMin,
        address[] calldata path,
        uint256 deadline
    )         
    external
    payable
    // returns (uint[] memory amounts)
    {
        // Transfer tokens from senders address to our smart contract
        // with the amountIn argument passed 
        IERC20(path[0]).transferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), amountIn);

I am calling this via Javascript :

const signer = new ethers.Wallet(PRIVATE_KEY)
    const account = signer.connect(provider)
    let MY_CONT_ADDRESS_KOVAN = '0xF54f5E75B3cACe5706e27F5d44B2C06fcF28a8d6'
    const my_specific_cont = new ethers.Contract(
        MY_CONT_ADDRESS_KOVAN,
        ['function swapTokensForTokens(uint256 amountIn, uint256 amountOutMin, address[] calldata path, uint256 deadline ) external payable'],
        account
    )
    
const KOV_DAI_CONT_ADD = '0x4f96fe3b7a6cf9725f59d353f723c1bdb64ca6aa'
    const KOV_DAI_CONT_ABI = '… removed for brevity'
    const KOV_USDT_CONT_ADD = '0x07de306ff27a2b630b1141956844eb1552b956b5'
    const KOV_USDT_CONT_ABI = '… removed for brevity'

    const receiverWallet = new ethers.Wallet(PRIVATE_KEY, provider)

    const deadline = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 60 * 5

    const tx = await my_specific_cont.swapTokensForTokens(
        1,
        1,
        [
            KOV_DAI_CONT_ADD, //dai
            KOV_USDT_CONT_ADD  //USDT
        ],
        deadline,
        { value: 1 }
    )
    log('tx', tx)

Output Error :

(node:24236) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: cannot estimate gas; transaction may fail or may require manual gas limit (error={"reason":"cannot estimate gas; transaction may fail or may require manual gas 
limit","code":"UNPREDICTABLE_GAS_LIMIT","method":"estimateGas","transaction":{"from":"0x2aeEcb55A573a6b4dea9C010020EaD9536E2606D","gasPrice":{"type":"BigNumber","hex":"0x04a817c800"},"to":"0xF54f5E75B3cACe5706e27F5d44B2C06fcF28a8d6","value":{"type":"BigNumber","hex":"0x64"},"data":"0xcf89fc450……………….removed for brevity"

When I comment the following line and all other lines in my sol function, transaction succeeds. So there is something wrong what I am doing here:

IERC20(path[0]).transferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), amountIn);

I have spent many hours but can't seem to figure out what am I doing wrong. Any help will be really appreciated.