‘Dhoni captained India first while Rohit’s journey to success began…’: Sehwag’s staggering ‘best IPL captain’ remark

Statistics and milestone do give a fair idea of who is the better batter or bowler or even all-rounder between two or more cricketers.

But how do you pick the better captain? Number of trophies. More wins – home and away. However, number do not tend to give a complete idea on captaincy. In Indian Premier League (IPL), the debate has primarily been between two candidates – MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.

For long there has been a debate of who between the two has been the better captain in IPL history and former India cricketer Virender Sehwag gave a rather staggering explanation in making his point for the best captain

Rohit and Dhoni have been the most decorated captains in the history of IPL. Together they have won nine IPL trophies between themselves in 15 seasons. Four of those belong to Dhoni, who led Chennai Super Kings to trophy glory on all occasions, while Rohit lifted the elusive cup five times as the captain of Mumbai Indians.

Speaking in a press conference organised by Star Sports, Sehwag picked Rohit as the best IPL captain ever, ahead of Dhoni, while giving a rather astonishing explanation for it. The India batting legend feels that Dhoni brought his experience of leading the Indian team in guiding CSK to four IPL titles while Rohit’s journey began with Mumbai before he was made the Indian skipper much later in his career.

“The numbers tell you everything. See, MS Dhoni had the experience of captaining the Indian team and then he became the captain of the Chennai Super Kings. Rohit Sharma’s first captaincy stint was with the Mumbai Indians, and from there, his journey to success began. So, that’s why he deserves more credit. Much like Sourav Ganguly, who became the captain of the Indian team and tried new and different things. He played two finals of a World Cup and under his leadership, India became the number one one-day team. That’s why my pick goes to Rohit Sharma,” said Sehwag.

IPL 2023 is slated to begin from March 31 onwards with Dhoni-led CSK taking in defending champions Gujarat Titans in the season opener in Ahmedabad.