Varun Chakaravarthy leaves out Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma while naming his Dream T20 XI

Varun Chakaravarthy PTM (Source: Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

Varun Chakaravarthy made his debut for India in the shortest format of the game under Virat Kohli's leadership during the 2021 T20 World Cup. Earlier this year, he debuted in the ODI format, playing under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

While naming his dream T20 XI, Chakaravarthy couldn't find places for Kohli and Rohit, who opened the batting for India in their triumphant T20 World Cup-winning campaign last year.

Chakaravarthy, in a candid conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin, was asked to name his all-time XI in the T20 format. The only condition that Ashwin set was that Chakaravarthy would be able to name players he has played with.

Instead of the Rohit-Kohli duo, Chakaravarthy decided to have Jos Buttler and Travis Head as his openers. Suryakumar Yadav was one of the three Indian players who made the cut. The current Indian captain comes in at No. 3. Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran, South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen, and Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya form the middle-order.

West Indies stalwarts Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, who also play alongside Chakaravarthy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), managed to find spots in the lower middle-order. Afghanistan's T20 skipper Rashid Khan is the other spinner picked in the side along with Narine.

In the fast-bowling department, the Tamil Nadu spinner picked the iconic Jasprit Bumrah and the enigmatic 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.

Chakaravarthy played a key role for India in the Champions Trophy 2025. He bagged nine wickets from three games at an average of 15.11 as India went on to lift the coveted title after 12 years. Chakaravarthy is expected to return to action in August when India travel to Bangladesh to play a three-match ODI series, which will be followed by three T20Is.