Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Mohammad Kaif feels that Varun Chakravarthy belongs in the same category as senior veterans like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Mohammad Shami, now that he is over 35 years old as well. He has returned from injury once again to be included in the squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand, scheduled to
begin on October 22 as well. Varun Chakravarthy has had an injury-ridden year, particularly after the T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.

“Varun Chakravarthy has a high release point and variations, so he will get extra bounce in New Zealand. His morale must be high because in the last couple of years whenever he has played, he has contributed for India. But, he is getting injured a lot recently. He is also not getting any younger. If you look at his age. We talk about Virat, Rohit, and Shami, now he also belongs in that category,” Mohammad Kaif said on Cricbuzz.

“But I still think that he is ahead of Kuldeep at this time. When they sit to make the playing XI, Varun will certainly be there, because he can bowl in the powerplay and later on as well, and he is a wicket-taker for the Indian team,” Kaif again added.

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India T20I squad for New Zealand series:

Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [WK], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav