'My relationship with Virat Kohli was impacted': Robin Uthappa regrets actions that strained his bond with India great
Robin Uthappa opened up about his past comments in an interview that inadvertently strained his bond with Virat Kohli. In that podcast, Uthappa was critical of Kohli's captaincy interview and his handling of Ambati Rayudu, who was dropped from India's 2019 ODI World Cup squad. Rayudu was seen as India’s frontrunner for the No.4 role at the World Cup, having showcased his consistency in the lead-up. However, the selectors opted against him and instead chose Vijay Shankar, famously justifying the decision by highlighting his '3D' qualities. Uthappa openly criticised Kohli's captaincy in that podcast about the handling of Rayudu as well as Yuvraj Singh's, who was dropped from India's squad and later retired in 2019 without a farewell match. Robin Uthappa rues public remarks on Virat Kohli’s captaincy that strained their bond(Instagram/AP Images)Uthappa clarified that the conversation was meant to focus on him and not Kohli. Yet, his remarks strained their rapport, making him realise the value of sharing personal views privately first, before voicing them in public."In that whole conversation, the intent was not to speak about Virat. That interview was meant to be about me. I was asked a question which I spoke to. I didn't take into consideration at that point the sentiments of Virat or the fact that even if this is what I believe, he should know what I believe and that gives me the right to voice that. My relationship or my camaraderie with Virat was impacted by that. I saw that for what it was, just based on that one-on-one relationship. My learning from that was, when I spoke to him about it, I acknowledged that I should have spoken to him before, even if it was what I believed," Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.“I should have spoken to Virat Kohli about it…”The 2007 T20 World Cup-winning star further admitted that though he had the right to voice his views, he realised in hindsight that he ought to have spoken to Kohli privately first. He said the incident taught him a valuable lesson."I didn't speak about my experience with Virat. I spoke about what I saw one of my closest friends experience under his leadership. It wasn't even his leadership, it was the style of leadership. Everyone is entitled to have their own style of leadership, and everyone is entitled to have their opinion. I felt, at least for my relationship with him, I should have spoken to him about it before I spoke about it on national television. That was my learning from that, and I think that sensitivity we must extend to cricketers or people in the same fraternity," he added.
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