Former Indian batter turned commentator Robin Uthappa claimed Virat Kohli had a huge role in Yuvraj Singh’s exclusion from the side in his final years and retirement as well. Yuvraj played a key role in India winning the 2007 and 2011 T20 and ODI World Cups, including being named the Player of the Tournament in the latter as well.
However, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour stage-1 in his left lung and he had to undergo chemotherapy following the 2011 ODI World Cup as well. While he returned to full-time action at the end of 2012, he lost his batting form as well. After Kohli became India’s full-time white-ball captain in 2017, Yuvraj Singh played only a few games, with the West Indian ODI series in June being his final international match as well.
Talking on the Lallantop YouTube channel, Uthappa said [Via Hindustan Times], “When Yuvi requested for that two-point deduction [fitness test], he didn’t get it. Then he did the test because he was outside the team and they weren’t taking him in. He passed the fitness test, came inside the team, had a lean tournament, took him out totally. Never entertained him after that. Whoever was in the leadership group, didn’t entertain him. That time Virat was the leader and it went according to him due to his strong personality, and that time it was according to him.”
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“The man beat cancer, and he is trying to come back into the international side. He is the man who won us a World Cup, won us two World Cups for that matter, along with the other players, but played an integral role in helping us win. Then for such a player, when you become captain, you say his lung capacity has diminished and you have been with him when you have seen him struggle,” he again shared.
Robin Uthappa also felt Virat Kohli’s captaincy style wasn’t as inclusive as others and it was focussed only on results over treating individuals in the right manner as well. Notably, Kohli has an excellent record as captain with 135 wins in 213 games at a winning percentage of 63.38 as well.
“I haven’t played under Virat as a captain very much. But Virat as a captain, he was very ‘my way or the highway’ kind of a captain. It’s not like these guys aren’t also like that, but how to treat your team, how you treat your personnel, because it is not just about results,” Robin Uthappa concluded.
