GUWAHATI, Jan 10: Amid the debate on Virat Kohli’s poor run of form and whether Rohit Sharma should be stripped of his captaincy following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy loss, former India batter Robin Uthappa has stirred another massive debate when he minced no words in accusing Kohli of playing a big part when the axe fell on start batter Yuvraj Singh from the Indian squad after the southpaw’ made a ‘s return to Team India following his cancer treatment.
Yuvraj, a key member of India’s 2007 World T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup winning squads, was dropped from the team after a string of poor performances after he made a return to the Indian team after his cancer treatment.
Uthappa was speaking on Lallantop and opened up on Yuvraj’s comeback after being diagnosed with cancer after the 2011 Cricket World Cup in which he played a crucial role in India’s world cup triumph.
Uthappa blamed Kohli for not giving Yuvraj enough time to make a successful return to the Indian squad, and also accused the then skipper of not giving any leniency to the allrounder in fitness tests, which he had requested.
“When Yuvi requested for a two-point deduction, 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,” The Hindustan Times quoted Uthappa as saying in the interview to Lallantop.
