World Cup-winning former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has said that being whitewashed at home by New Zealand was a bigger low for Team India than the loss of Border-Gavaskar Trophy but refused to join the chorus of criticism against embattled veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
India have endured a difficult last few months in the five-day format, going down 0-3 to an under-strength New Zealand at home, which was a first in the team's Test history. This was followed by a 1-3 drubbing by Australia in the away edition of the Border Gavaskar series.
Both the debacles have been largely attributed to the team's batting frailties, especially those of Rohit and Kohli.
"According to me, losing (to) New Zealand is more hurting (sic). Because they are losing 3-0 at home. You know, that is not acceptable. This (losing BGT) is still acceptable because you have won two times in Australia. And this time you lost," Yuvraj told 'PTI Videos' in an interview here.
"Australia has been a dominant side for the last so many years, that is my thought," the 43-year-old hero of India's 2011 World Cup triumph said.
While Kohli managed at least a hundred during the series despite continuing to be dismissed whenever he was baited outside the off stump, Rohit was worse with a tally of just 31 runs and had to drop himself from the final Test.
But Yuvraj said it is unfair to lambast the duo given their past achievements.
"We are talking about our greats, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, we are saying very bad things about them," he said.
"...people forget what they have achieved in the past. They are one of the greatest cricketers of this time. Okay, they lost, they did not play good cricket. They are getting hurt more than us," he added.
Hopeful that India would bounce back strongly, Yuvraj said he has full faith in not just Rohit and Kohli but also new head coach Gautam Gambhir, who was his former teammate as well.
"I feel that Gautam Gambhir as a coach, Ajit Agarkar as a selector, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, they are the best minds in cricket right now," he asserted.
"And they have to decide what's the way for Indian cricket in future," he said.
The big-hitting former batter also lauded Rohit for dropping himself from the Sydney Test, saying it was a selfless act.
"I think it is a big thing. I have never seen in the past that the captain's form is not going well and he himself has gone out. And this is Rohit Sharma's greatness that he has kept the team ahead of himself," Yuvraj said.
"I think he is a great captain. Whether win or lose, he will always be a great captain. And in his captaincy, we have played the (ODI) World Cup final. We won a T20 World Cup. We have achieved a lot," he pointed out.
He urged the critics to exercise restraint while dissecting the team's performance.
"I was a student of the game and now I am a student of the game. The amount of cricket I have played, they have played more cricket than me," said the man, who played 304 ODIs, 40 Tests and 58 T20 Internationals for India, amassing 11,000 runs across formats.
"I can give my opinion. And my opinion is that when players are not performing, it is easy to say bad about them. But it is very difficult to support them. Media's job is to say bad about them. My job is to support my friends and brothers. For me, they are my family. Simple," he signed off.
