‘In last 15 years, he has been the best captain in world’ – Salman Butt picks his number one captain in cricket

Salman Butt was one of the main openers in Pakistan cricket during the late 2000s. The Southpaw played 33, 78, and 24 matches in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is, respectively. The 38-year-old scored 1889 runs, 2725 runs, and 595 runs in the three formats, respectively. Though Butt was not that good in any format, he was a decent option as an opener for Pakistan.  

Butt recently appeared in a podcast and conversed about a lot of things, including the captaincy of some great personalities. As the conversation went about the likes of Imran Khan, Babar Azam, and others, Butt picked the former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the number one captain in world cricket. The Lahore-born cricketer gave the reasons for his pick.  

‘He does not shout at his teammates’ – Butt

“If you look at recent history, in the last 15 years, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been the best captain in the world. He is the number one captain. He is never overexcited on the field. Neither does he get engaged in a battle with his teammates nor does he shout at them. Even when the entire team celebrates, he remains at his position and stands normally,” said Butt.  

As a captain, MS Dhoni had a stellar record in international cricket. Under Dhoni, India won the maiden T20 World Cup in 2007 despite playing with a young team. India won Asia Cup in 2009 and 2016 under the leadership of Dhoni. The men in blue won the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008. Under Dhoni, India became the number-one-ranked Test team for the first time in cricket history.  

The biggest crown for the former Indian captain was of course the victory in the 2011 ODI World Cup. The Indian team won the Prestigious ODI World Cup after 28 years. In 2013, India won the 2013 Champions Trophy, as MS Dhoni became the only captain to win all three big tournaments – The ODI World Cup, The T20 World Cup, and The Champions Trophy. Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020.