Hoping for bouncing back, Yuvraj Singh said he has full faith in not just Virat and Rohit, but also head coach Gautam Gambhir. The big-hitting former batter also lauded Rohit for dropping himself from the Sydney Test, saying it was a selfless act
Yuvraj Singh (Pic: File Pic)
Former Team India cricketer Yuvraj Singh said that being whitewashed at home against New Zealand was a bigger low for the national side than losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia.
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Team India had tough months in Test cricket as they lost the Test series by 0-3 against New Zealand at home and then fell short by 1-3 against the Aussies.
Both the debacles have been largely attributed to the team's batting frailties, especially those of Rohit and Kohli.
"According to me, losing (to) New Zealand is more hurting (sic). Because they are losing 3-0 at home. You know, that is not acceptable. This (losing BGT) is still acceptable because you have won two times in Australia. And this time you lost," Yuvraj Singh told 'PTI Videos' in an interview here.
"Australia has been a dominant side for the last so many years, that is my thought," the 43-year-old hero of India's 2011 World Cup triumph said.
Virat Kohli managed to register a century during the Test series but continued to throw his wicket to an outside off-stump delivery. Rohit Sharma on the other hand, was worse as he managed to garner just 31 runs in the series.
But Yuvraj Singh stated that it is not fair to criticize the duo keeping in mind their past achievements.
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"We are talking about our greats, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, we are saying very bad things about them," he said.
"...people forget what they have achieved in the past. They are one of the greatest cricketers of this time. Okay, they lost, they did not play good cricket. They are getting hurt more than us," he added.
Hoping for bouncing back, Yuvraj Singh said he has full faith in not just Virat and Rohit, but also head coach Gautam Gambhir.
"I feel that Gautam Gambhir as a coach, Ajit Agarkar as a selector, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, they are the best minds in cricket right now," he asserted.
"And they have to decide what's the way for Indian cricket in future," he said.
The big-hitting former batter also lauded Rohit for dropping himself from the Sydney Test, saying it was a selfless act.
"I think it is a big thing. I have never seen in the past that the captain's form is not going well and he himself has gone out. And this is Rohit Sharma's greatness that he has kept the team ahead of himself," Yuvraj Singh said.
"I think he is a great captain. Whether win or lose, he will always be a great captain. And in his captaincy, we have played the (ODI) World Cup final. We won a T20 World Cup. We have achieved a lot," he pointed out.
He urged the critics to exercise restraint while dissecting the team's performance.
"I was a student of the game and now I am a student of the game. The amount of cricket I have played, they have played more cricket than me," said the man, who played 304 ODIs, 40 Tests and 58 T20 Internationals for India, amassing 11,000 runs across formats.
"I can give my opinion. And my opinion is that when players are not performing, it is easy to say bad about them. But it is very difficult to support them. Media's job is to say bad about them. My job is to support my friends and brothers. For me, they are my family. Simple," he signed off.
(With PTI Inputs)
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