Robin Uthappa Opens Up About Strained Bond With Virat Kohli

Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa opened up on the comments he made on his bond with Virat Kohli. In that podcast, Uthappa talked about Kohli's captaincy and how Ambati Rayudu handled him, who was kicked out from the Indian team for the 2019 ODI World Cup. Rayudu was considered the No. 4, who showcased his skills in the previous games. However, selectors didn't go with him and instead chose Vijay Shankar.

At that time, Uthappa openly criticized Kohli's captaincy in the podcast about selecting Rayudu and Yuvraj Singh, who was dropped from the Indian squad, and later they announced their retirement in 2019 without a farewell match.

Now, in his YouTube channel, Uthappa has clarified all the comments he made regarding Kohli, stating that there was nothing to target him.

He said,

"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."

The 2007 T20 World Cup-winning star further stated that even though he had the right to speak his views, he would have spoken to Kohli about that personally.

He said,

"I didn't speak about my experience with Virat. I spoke about what I saw one of my closest friends experience under his 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."