Soham Desai, who served as the strength and conditioning coach for the Indian national cricket team for five years, spoke out recently against the persistent criticism surrounding ODI captain Rohit Sharma’s fitness regime. Desai is confident that Rohit can absolutely enhance his fitness, but emphasized that the narrative portraying him as someone who doesn’t put in the effort is completely false. He also shared his admiration for coaching Virat Kohli, describing Kohli as “a model athlete” driven by hunger, determination, and sheer will to be the best.
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed recently stirred controversy by referring to cricketer Rohit Sharma as “fat” in a social media post. She commented that Sharma was “fat for a sportsman” and needed to lose weight.
The remark quickly sparked backlash, prompting the Congress party to intervene. Mohamed was asked to delete the post, and the party issued a warning, stating that her comments did not reflect the party’s official stance. She was also urged to be more cautious with public statements going forward. In response, Shama Mohamed clarified that her comments were made in a personal capacity and insisted the issue had been blown out of proportion. She also emphasized that she holds Rohit Sharma in high regard and is proud of his achievements.
In an interview with the Indian Express, Desai remarked:
“People assume Rohit doesn’t work hard on his fitness. Given his history, for him to lead at the highest level for four years with a game or two missed is significant. He cannot do that by fluke, right? He must be doing something right. Can he get better? Yes, 100%. He will be the first one to say that. But to assume that he doesn’t work hard is a bit much.”
On working with Virat Kohli, Desai said:
“What should I say about Virat? It has been an honour to coach a student like him. A model athlete. He started out wanting to be the best, he got there through sheer will. He was aggressive, hungry and wanted to be number one. Both Rohit and Virat had the same team vision to dominate world cricket they approached it differently.”
Desai reflected on his experiences with two iconic Indian coaches, Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid. He admired their distinct styles but shared the same objective of building a world-dominating side.
He explained their approaches:
“They are both different individuals, with different approaches but with eye on similar end goals—building a culture/team that dominates world cricket. Ravi bhai used to be precise, direct and clear in his requirements. Then it was on us to work with (Bharat) Arun sir and (R) Sridhar sir and get things done. But he will keep a close eye and notice everything.”
“Rahul bhai would sit down to understand things in detail. He will first lay out a plan, explain what we are trying to do as a team, this is how we are going to do it, this is where you come in, etc etc. Then it is on us to make plans that compliment the team’s plan and if there is a situation that may impact the team’s plan, we would communicate and he would always be receptive. Essentially, he was involved and had a bird’s eye view on the entire operation.
