Was Virat Kohli behind Yuvraj Singh's early exit from Team India? Uthappa reveals fitness test controversy

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has claimed that Virat Kohli’s “my way or the highway” captaincy style cut short legendary Yuvraj Singh’s international career. The 39-year-old Uthappa, who played 59 matches for India across the two white-ball formats and scored 1183 runs, also compared Kohli’s leadership style with that of current Men in Blue captain Rohit Sharma and said that the former was rigid in his approach.

Yuvraj Singh, who helped India win the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup and is fondly remembered for hitting Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, was diagnosed with cancer after the 2011 World Cup. He later underwent chemotherapy and made a successful return from the dangerous disease. His international return happened in 2012 but he missed the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Uthappa slams Kohli’s handling of Yuvraj

Yuvraj was back with the Indian cricket team once again under Kohli’s captaincy but was pushed out after a poor Champions Trophy in 2017.

Uthappa, who was part of the T20 World Cup winning side in 2007 and also played with Kohli in Team India, recently discussed Kohli’s captaincy style and exclusion of Yuvraj from the side in an interview with Lallantop.

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“Virat’s style of captaincy was different to the extent that you needed to reach his level. Whether it was fitness, whether it was eating habits, whether it was listening, agreeing, all of that had to happen at that standard,” Uthappa said while talking about Kohli’s leadership style.

“There are two different types of leaders. There are leaders who say this is the standard needed and there are leaders who say ‘I will meet you there and elevate you to the standards I need you to be at’. Both work and both get the results, but the impact on the personnel will be different. One will value a lot, and the exclusive one will feel let down a lot.”

Uthappa also revealed how no exceptions were made for Yuvraj when it came to matching the fitness standards set by then-captain Kohli despite the former losing much of his lung capacity due to cancer.

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“Take Yuvi Pa’s instance. The man beat cancer, and he is trying to come back into the international side. He is the man who won us a World Cup, won us two World Cups for that matter, along with the other players, but played an integral role in helping us win. Then, for such a player, when you become captain, you say his lung capacity has diminished. You had been with him when you had seen him struggle,” Uthappa revealed.

“Nobody has told me this, I observe things,” Uthappa added. “You have seen him struggle…yes, you have to maintain a level of standard, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Here is a man who deserves to be an exception because he has not just won you tournaments, but he has beaten cancer. He has beaten the hardest challenge in life in that sense,” Uthappa said.

Robin Uthappa - "Virat Kohli forced Yuvraj Singh to retire. Yuvraj having just beaten cancer requested a reduction of two points but the egoistic Kohli denied the request. Yuvraj was not treated fairly by Kohli and his management." pic.twitter.com/8vEFsqiR2i

— 𝐉𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞 (@jod_insane) January 10, 2025

Uthappa says Kohli was a rigid captain

Uthappa shared that Yuvraj asked for a reduction of two points in the fitness Test but it was not done and eventually, he was phased out.

“So when Yuvi requested for that two-point deduction, he didn’t get it. Then he did the test because he was outside the team and they weren’t taking him in. He passed the fitness test, came inside the team, had a lean tournament, took him out totally. Never entertained him after that. Whoever was in the leadership group, didn’t entertain him. That time Virat was the leader and it went according to him due to his strong personality, and that time it was according to him,” Uthappa added.

Uthappa also added that Kohli as a captain was rigid and players had only one option, to follow his orders.

“I haven’t played under Virat as a captain very much. But Virat as a captain, he was very ‘my way or the highway’ kind of a captain. It’s not like these guys aren’t also like that, but how to treat your team, how you treat your personnel, because it is not just about results.”

After being phased out of Team India, Yuvraj announced his international retirement on 10 June 2019.