Dinesh Karthik picks India's All-Time T20 XI; skips highest wicket-taker in the format

Published - 06 Sept 2025, 09:45 IST | Updated - 06 Sept 2025, 10:33 IST

Former India cricketer and renowned commentator Dinesh Karthik has come forward to share his all-time greatest playing combination for the Indian team in T20 Internationals. The ex-stumper has picked a combination of players who have been veterans for the Men in Blue in the format, while a few youngsters and relatively less-experienced stars have also made it into his list, which he shared in a video uploaded by Cricbuzz.

At the top order, the Chennai-born has picked the solid opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Rohit Sharma, who also provide a left-right combination. The two are followed by Virat Kohli, who is also India's second highest run-getter in the format with 4188 runs, only behind Rohit who has 4231. At No. 4 is the current captain in the format, Suryakumar Yadav, who will also be leading the 15-man squad at the upcoming Asia Cup 2025.

To name a captain of the side, Karthik had no hesitation in picking the 2007 World Cup-winning captain and legendary wicketkeeper-batter Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Ranchi-born is followed by an exceptional trio of all-rounders in Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel. Karthik believes that Yuvraj is among the most easy-on-the-eyes batter he has ever seen.

When it comes to bowlers, it was expected that the ex-Tamil Nadu cricketer would pick Yuzvendra Chahal as the frontline spinner. However, he has gone ahead with Varun Chakravarthy, who has shown a lot of promise in the limited matches he has played in the shortest format of the game.

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.

Dinesh Karthik's all-time India XI: Abhishek Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar