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MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma (Source - Twitter)
On Monday night, after defeating the Gujarat Titans, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the 2023 Indian Premier League championship. With their record-tying fifth IPL championship, they level things up with Mumbai Indians, who also have won five titles, all under Rohit Sharma as captain.
Both Dhoni as well as Rohit are rightfully regarded as the best leaders in the history of the competition, but former Pakistan captain Salman Butt offered an intriguing comment when asked to contrast the two. A fan questioned Butt to discuss the two players' levels of fitness during a YouTube live meeting, and the former Pakistan leader almost laughed before talking about Dhoni and Rohit. While Butt avoided mentioning the CSK captain, he criticised the current India captain for failing to maintain a high standard of fitness.
Salman Butt’s statement on Rohit Sharma's fitness
Salman Butt started off by comparing two of the greatest captains and discussed the importance of fitness in a captain and a player. He said, “There's a world of difference between the two. Rohit Sharma has a big designation, he's the captain of India. He should be leading by example in all aspects, and fitness is a very important aspect. As a captain, when you are in a position to demand something from your teammates, you should have them yourself. You should be top of the line.”
Salman Butt then concluded by saying that fitness might be able to increase the confidence of the Mumbai Indians opener. He said, “When you look at Rohit Sharma, you realise that fitness is one aspect where he can be a lot better. It will improve his batting and confidence as well. But we are talking about it for a long time now. I don't know why he isn't fit enough. Maybe he knows the reason himself.”
With only a few overs left in the innings when Dhoni often came to the crease this IPL, as he has virtually designated himself to the position of finisher within the batting order. Dhoni, though, continued to be incredibly quick behind the wickets, as evidenced in the IPL championship game when it took him just 0.1 seconds to get Shubman Gill stumped.