India's Champions Trophy 2025-winning spinner Varun Chakravarthy picked his dream T20I XI during a conversation with his Dindigul Dragons captain Ravichandran Ashwin. Chakravarthy made a few bold calls as he did not include India's T20 World Cup 2007-winning captain MS Dhoni and T20 World Cup 2024-winning Rohit Sharma along with Virat Kohli who is India's leading run-scorer in the format (including franchise, domestic and T20I cricket).
Chakravarthy picked his Kolkata Knight Riders teammates Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. As openers he picked, England's Jos Buttler and Australia's Travis Head, followed by India's current T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav. He included two more wicketkeeper-batters Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klaasen. Alongside Russell, the other fast-bowling all-rounder is Hardik Pandya. The leg-spinner in the side is Rashid Khan whereas the two pacers are Jasprit Bumrah and Matheesha Pathirana.
Varun Chakravarthy's Dream T20 XI:
Jos Buttler, Travis Head, Suryakumar Yadav, Nicholas Pooran, Heinrich Klaasen, Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah and Matheesha Pathirana.
Chakravarthy was picked as net bowler by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and KKR before he was roped in by Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the auction where he met Ashwin after beating his team in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) final.
“After two matches of CSK in Chennai, they had to shift everything to Pune because of some political issues. So, they didn’t take me there, and I was in Chennai and then, DK (Dinesh Karthik) called me and asked to join KKR as their net bowler. I had a good time there and bowled really well. That’s where I met Abhishek, and that’s when everything started changing,” the mystery spinner said.
“After that, the TNPL happened, where we won against Dindigul Dragons in the final. In the subsequent year, I got picked by Kings XI, where I met you (Ashwin). I had a slap tear in my shoulder,” he added.
Chakravarthy's recent form
Chakravarthy was KKR's highest wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He claimed 17 wickets from 13 games at an average of 22.52. However, he could not carry forward his form in the ongoing TNPL 2025. He is not among the top 10 wicket-takers. So far, he has claimed eight wickets from seven games at an average of 24.75. However, he turned finisher in one of the games for Dragons, hitting a six and a four to finish the run chase.
He will be in action on the international stage when India tour Bangladesh The ODI series will be played from August 17 to August 23. Considering the conditions in Bangladesh, he is likely to retain his place in the ODI side. It is followed by a T20I series which will be played from August 26 to August 31. It will be interesting to see whether he makes it to the Australia tour later this year.