'Kohli used to drop players whom he didn't like': Ambati Rayudu opens up on Robin Uthappa's accusation

Former India batsman Ambati Rayudu has opened up on Robin Uthappa's viral statement blaming former captain Virat Kohli for the former's exclusion from the 2019 ODI World Cup squad.

Earlier in an interview, Uthappa had accused the then-captain Kohli of showing preferential treatment, saying that a player would be dropped from the team if Kohli didn't like him. According to the former India player, Rayudu was a victim of that.

"If  Kohli didn't like anyone, he didn't feel someone was 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 and a 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 had said.

Rayudu's Response

In response, Rayudu agreed that Kohli did have strong likes and dislikes.

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"What Uthappa was trying to say is that Kohli has strong likes and dislikes. But in my case, Kohli was the one who backed me. He liked me. When I was there at his captaincy, we played many games for India. He was the one who brought me into the team. He understands the struggle because he as well is from a humble background and has played tremendous cricket. It is never easy to excel as a batter coming from Delhi. To be a world-beater, especially in white-ball cricket, it's not easy. So he has seen everything," said Rayudu.

"His leadership sometimes was found wanting, which everyone knows. What Uthappa mentioned was that during his captaincy, he made mistakes. It's not about preferences, but it's about logic, which may be at that point in time was not the right thing to do. I won't say Kohli or Ravi Shastri or MSK (Prasad) did that, it was a collective decision. They thought something else would be better for their team. But I don't think it was personal," he added.