'Should have spoken to him first': Robin Uthappa admits fallout with Virat Kohli; says remarks not personal

NEW DELHI: Former India batter Robin Uthappa has revealed that his outspoken comments during an interview had an unintended fallout — impacting his personal relationship with Virat Kohli.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!In that interview, Uthappa had criticised Kohli’s handling of Ambati Rayudu during India’s 2019 ODI World Cup campaign. Rayudu, long seen as the frontrunner for the No.4 slot, was controversially left out of the squad in favour of Vijay Shankar, whose ‘3D qualities’ were cited as justification. Uthappa’s sharp words on Kohli’s captaincy drew attention, but the former cricketer now admits the fallout affected him personally.“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,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel. “My relationship or my camaraderie with Virat was impacted by that. 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.”He further clarified that his remarks were not directed at Kohli as an individual but at the broader leadership style he observed. “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 their own style of leadership, and everyone is entitled to have their opinion. But I should have spoken to him about it before I spoke on national television. That was my learning,” he said.Uthappa’s original comments were far more blunt. In that Lallantop interview, he claimed Kohli could be a “cut-throat” leader. “If he didn’t like anyone, they were cut. Rayudu is the prime example. He had World Cup clothes, kit bag, everything ready, thinking he would play. But you shut the door on him. That wasn’t fair,” Uthappa had said.The 2007 T20 World Cup winner now admits that while he had the right to voice his views, the episode taught him a valuable lesson about sensitivity and communication within the cricketing fraternity.