Whitewash at home bigger failure for India than Australia series defeat: Yuvraj Singh

Whitewash at home bigger failure for India than Australia series defeat: Yuvraj Singh

New Delhi: Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh believes getting whitewashed in the Test series at home against New Zealand was a bigger failure for the Indian team than losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 3-1 against Australia. India suffered a crushing six-wicket defeat in the 5th Test against Australia in Sydney last week to lose the five-match series 3-1, conceding the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years.

The 3-1 defeat in the high-profile series also ended India’s hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final as they missed out on a spot in the summit clash for the first time since the inception of the competition. The Australia series defeat marked a disappointing end to a season of lows for India in Tests.

India earlier suffered a humiliating 0-3 defeat in the three-match Test series against New Zealand at home, their first Test series loss against the Kiwis at home in Test history. It was also the first whitewash for India in a Test series at home since 2000 when they lost a two-match Test series against South Africa 2-0 at home.

“According to me, losing (to) New Zealand is more hurting. 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.

“Australia has been a dominant side for the last so many years, that is my thought,” added the 2011 ODI World Cup winner.

Yuvraj Singh defends Rohit and Kohli

India’s batting frailties were left exposed in both series defeats, highlighting the struggles of senior batters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. While they struggled to play spin at home against New Zealand, Australian pacers exposed their weaknesses with their relentless bowling in the recently concluded Test series Down Under.

Kohli finished the series with a disappointing 190 runs from 5 Tests at a poor average of 23.75, Rohit managed only 31 runs in three Test matches before getting dropped from the playing XI for the 5th Test in Sydney to make way for KL Rahul to return as an opener and Shubman Gill to bat at no.3. Yuvraj, however, defended the duo stating that it is unfair to criticise the duo considering their past achievements.

“We are talking about our greats, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, we are saying very bad things about them,” said Yuvraj.

“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.

 Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh believes the 3-0 whitewash in the Test series against New Zealand at home was a bigger failure for the Indian team than their 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia.  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today