Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa accused then skipper Virat Kohli of treating Ambati Rayudu unfairly in 2019 ODI World Cup. Despite being in prolific form leading up to the marquee event, the Hyderabad cricketer was left out of the squad, raising eyebrows. Uthappa has claimed that Kohli decided to “shut the door” on Rayudu and in the same breath accused the former skipper of treating Yuvraj Singh harshly during his tenure as captain.
Virat Kohli shut door on Rayudu: Uthappa
In an interview, Robbie claimed that Virat Kohli cut off anyone whom he did not like or think weren’t good enough. He tore into the ex-Indian captain for closing the door on Rayudu after taking him to the cusp. He said that it wasn’t fair to drop Rayudu at that point of time despite the batter having all the calibre to be a part of the ODI World Cup team.
“If he (Virat Kohli) didn’t like anyone, he didn’t feel someone is good, then they were cut. (Ambati) Rayudu is the prime example. You feel bad. Everybody has preferences, I agree but you cannot close the door on a player after taking him to the cusp. He had World Cup clothes, World Cup kit bag, everything was there at his home. A player would be thinking that he is going to the World Cup. But you shut the door on him. That wasn’t fair according to me,” Uthappa revealed
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The controversy began when Rayudu was left out of the squad and instead Vijay Shankar was picked. Later, the Hyderabad batter had revealed that he was not in good terms with then selector MSK Prasad.
Uthappa had also claimed that Virat had shown no mercy to Yuvraj Singh when the latter had recovered from cancer and wanted to make a comeback to the side. He accused Kohli of not budging when Yuvi requested him for a two-point deduction in the fitness test and eventually being shown the door after performing poorly in just one series.
