No place for five-time IPL-winning captains as Varun Chakaravarthy picks his dream T20 XI

India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy ignored five-time IPL-winning captains MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma while revealing his dream T20I XI on Sunday, June 29. The 33-year-old also axed legendary batter Virat Kohli, who is the leading run-getter with over 8.000 runs in the tournament.

Varun picked only three Indians in his dream XI, featuring Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah. The lineup also featured his two Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammates - Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

The Chennai-based player picked swashbuckling batters Jos Buttler and Travis Head to open the innings. Varun included a similar (attacking) style of batters in the middle order – Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klaasen. His choice of bowling attack included Rashid Khan and Matheesha Pathirana.

Varun Chakaravarthy’s Dream T20 XI (via Ravichandran Ashwin's YouTube channel): Jos Buttler, Travis Head, Suryakumar Yadav, Nicholas Pooran, Heinrich Klaasen, Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, and Matheesha Pathirana.

(from 50:31 onwards):

“In the subsequent year, I got picked by Kings XI” – Varun Chakaravarthy explains roller-coaster ride before his first IPL breakthrough

Varun Chakaravarthy further explained his roller-coaster ride from being the net bowler of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2018 before being bought by the Punjab Kings (PBKS) ahead of IPL 2019 for his debut season in the T20 league. He told Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel:

“20:09 – 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.”

“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.

Varun Chakaravarthy currently plays for KKR in the IPL. He has established himself as one of the most successful players in the T20 league, bagging 100 wickets in 84 matches. The Chennai-based player has been a regular for India in white-ball formats over the last nine months since his comeback to the national side after three years. He won the 2025 Champions Trophy under Rohit Sharma's captaincy last year.