World Cup-winning former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has said that being whitewashed at home by New Zealand was a bigger low for Team India than the loss of Border-Gavaskar Trophy but refused to join the chorus of criticism against embattled veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
India have endured a difficult last few months in the five-day format, going down 0-3 to an under-strength New Zealand at home, which was a first in the team’s Test history. This was followed by a 1-3 drubbing by Australia in the away edition of the Border Gavaskar series.
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 said.
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.
While Kohli managed at least a hundred during the series despite continuing to be dismissed whenever he was baited outside the off stump, Rohit was worse with a tally of just 31 runs and had to drop himself from the final Test.
But Yuvraj said it is unfair to lambast the duo given their past achievements.
“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.