Robin Uthappa questions Gautam Gambhir for skipping praise for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli despite their ODI performances

Robin Uthappa found it "strange" that Gautam Gambhir did not praise Rohit Sharma (146 runs) or Virat Kohli (302 runs) after India's ODI series win vs SA. Uthappa argued their series-defining scores "shut down any naysayers" and deserved credit. Gambhir instead focused on long-term planning for the 2027 World Cup.

12 Dec 2025 16:03 IST

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Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has said that current head coach Gautam Gambhir did not acknowledge the contributions of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after their strong performances in the recent home ODI series against South Africa.

India are now playing the ongoing five-match home T20I series against the Proteas. Before that, they hosted South Africa for two Tests, which they lost 0-2. They then won the three-match ODI series 2-1 against them, with Rohit and Kohli playing a key role. However, after the series win, Gambhir praised the new young players who had been given chances, but did not speak much about Rohit and Kohli in the post-match press conference.

This surprised Uthappa. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Gambhir’s former India and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate said: “What I found surprising is the post-match of that series, in the press conference, I didn’t see Gautam giving credit to either Rohit or Virat."

“That felt strange” - Uthappa

Both Rohit and Kohli now play only ODIs. With the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind, all eyes were on them.

Rohit had a brilliant run in the three ODIs in Australia, finishing as Player of the Series with 202 runs in three innings at an average of 101.00. Against South Africa, he added two more fifties—57 in Ranchi and 75 in Vizag.

For Kohli, the Australia ODIs started badly with two ducks. But he bounced back strongly. In the next four games, he hit two fifties and two centuries. In the third ODI against Australia, he scored a match-winning, unbeaten 74. He then hit back-to-back hundreds against South Africa. In the series decider in Vizag, he remained unbeaten on 65 and won the Player of the Series award with 302 runs in three innings at an average of 151.00.

“Here are a couple of guys who’ve batted out of their skins and shown us how good they are and how good they can be. They reduced all kinds of doubts and shut down any naysayers about what they actually can do and will do for India when they are in the right kind of form. That felt strange," Uthappa added.

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