Rohit would’ve been most destructive player if his fitness levels were half as good as Virat’s: Ex-Pak skipper

Rohit Sharma is set to lead India in the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2022 edition, in Australia, from October-November. He will be desperate to get a hand on the trophy and join MS Dhoni in becoming only the second Indian captain to clinch the mega title. Before that, Rohit received huge words of praise from former Pakistan opener Salman Butt, who believes that Hitman is the only player who comes close to matching AB de Villiers’ heroics with the bat. Nonetheless, when it comes to comparing him with Pakistani openers Babar Azam and Md Rizwan, Butt refrained from doing so. 

Butt believes Rohit is a far more skilled player than Rizwan and Babar — who are currently the top-two ranked T20I batters, respectively — but would’ve been more destructive had his fitness levels been even half as good as Virat Kohli’s. “Unka (Rohit) comparison nahi banta (with Babar and Rizwan). With his set of skills, Rohit ki fitness Kohli se aadhi bhi ho, toh usse zyada destructive player nahi hai. Fir uska aur sirf AB de Villiers ka match reh jaata hai, beechme koi player nahi aata. Agar woh (Rohit) bohot fit hotey Kohli ki tarah toh pata nahi woh kya kartey. (Rohit can’t be compared with Babar and Rizwan. With his set of skills, Rohit would be the most destructive player if his fitness levels were half as good as Kohli’s. Only AB de Villiers comes close to him)” Butt opined on his YouTube channel.

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Rohit is easily one of the most successful openers of all time. His career’s biggest turnaround came when he was promoted as an opener in early 2013. Since then, there has been no looking back for the Indian captain, who has over 16,133 runs across formats (9,376 in ODIs and 3,620 in T20Is). Nonetheless, it is his fitness levels which many believe are still not up to the mark as the veteran batter has missed plenty of away Test series in recent times. In the current Indian team, he is given breaks at regular intervals to manage his workload and also keep him away from injuries.

Kohli, on the other hand, has been the torch-bearer in bringing a huge change in Indian cricket when it comes to fitness standards. He has hardly missed international assignments due to injury concerns and has a huge fan base for inculcating the significance of fitness in the Team India camp, apart from his plethora of runs across formats.