Dinesh Karthik chose India’s All-Time T20 XI, skips format’s highest wicket-taker

Dinesh Karthik, a former Indian cricketer and prominent commentator, has stepped up to offer his all-time best playing combination for the Indian squad in T20 Internationals. The former stumper has chosen a mix of veterans for the Men in Blue in the format, as well as a few young and relatively inexperienced talents, for his list, which he published in a video.

At the top of the order, the Chennai native has chosen the reliable opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Rohit Sharma, who also give a left-right combination. Virat Kohli is India’s second best run-getter in the format, with 4188 runs, trailing only Rohit, who has 4231. Suryakumar Yadav, the format’s current captain, is ranked fourth. He will also lead the 15-man side at the upcoming Asia Cup in 2025.

Karthik chose Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the 2007 World Cup-winning captain and great wicketkeeper-batsman, as the team’s captain without hesitation. The Ranchi native is followed by an outstanding trio of all-rounders in Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel. Karthik says Yuvraj is one of the most visually appealing batters he has ever seen.

When it comes to bowlers, it was thought that the former Tamil Nadu player will select Yuzvendra Chahal as the frontline spinner. However, he has chosen Varun Chakravarthy, who has showed great promise in the few matches he has played in the shortest version of the game.

Dinesh Karthik picks Bhuvneshwar, but no place for Arshdeep

It is interesting to see that Karthik picked Jasprit Bumrah as the leader of the pace attack, but missed out on including someone like Arshdeep Singh, who is the highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is with 99 wickets from just 33 matches. Instead of the left-arm pacer, Karthik has picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the star swing bowler, but has been out of favour since the 2022 T20 World Cup.