IND vs ENG: "If This Was India's Best Lot, Then How Is MS Dhoni Out Of It' - Salman Butt On Indian Team's Fitness

On Thursday, Team India lost to England by a disgraceful margin of 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup semifinal. India scored 168/6 in 20 overs while batting first, with half-centuries coming from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya. 

With the help of player of the match Alex Hales and skipper Jos Buttler, England quickly chased down the target in response. In order to help their team advance to the tournament’s final, the pair put together the highest partnership in T20 World Cup history—170* runs. 

Following Team India’s humiliation by England, in which India’s bowlers failed to take a single wicket and the team’s batters failed to score a significant total, cricket analysts and fans are outraged with the Men in Blue.

Salman Butt Criticizes Rohit Sharma’s Fitness

Salman Butt, a former cricketer for Pakistan, criticised India captain Rohit Sharma for his fitness and shot choice during the T20 World Cup. 

” There is no better player than Rohit Sharma. But fitness is also a very important aspect. When you command the team and expect 100 per cent from them but you, yourself are slow then players must be discussing and complaining about you behind your back,” said Butt on his YouTube channel. 

” You keep getting out to big shots in the air and advise others to play ground strokes and not play risky shots. Words don’t matter, you have to show through your actions,” he added. 

Butt went on to discuss the state of fitness for the entire Indian side and made comparisons to the players from England. 

” I think this is something (fitness) which is badly missing in their team. The youngsters coming in are outstanding cricketers but not all of them have outstanding fitness. 

“On the other side, look at England players, they’re super fit. They don’t just hit sixes but run fast between the wickets too. Look at their fielding, you will see the difference,” he highlighted. 

MS Dhoni Is Still India’s Most Fit Player: Salman Butt

The former left-handed batter then contrasted MS Dhoni’s physical condition with the current crop of Indian players and criticised the management for picking a weak team for the prestigious competition. 

” These things are very clear. It’s not very complicated that the Indian team didn’t know about. The writing is on the wall. Despite so much talent on display in bi-laterals. Their team had defeated South Africa in bi-laterals. Why weren’t the performing players of those games selected?.

“If this was their best lot, then how is Dhoni out of it. Just see in the IPL, he(Dhoni) is the most fit player. If you compare him to any young Indian wicket keeper, i don’t think there is anyone ahead of him.” 

“You had Siraj, he was in good form, you didn’t pick him. You had experienced Umesh Yadav, you had a surprise package in Umran Malik, who can bowl at 150 Kmph, you didn’t pick them.

“It means you hesitate in doing experiments. You were stuck with those 130…mid 130s bowlers who were not got enough,” Butt concluded. 

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