“They were always backstabbers” - Yuvraj Singh’s father makes stunning remark on Virat Kohli’s captaincy

Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh's father, Yograj Singh, launched a scathing attack when asked if Virat Kohli as captain could have helped Yuvraj prolong his career. Yograj believes almost all of Yuvraj's contemporaries were scared that the latter would take their positions.

Yuvraj enjoyed an illustrious 15-year international career until the middle of the 2017 season. However, he was in and out of the Indian side in 2011 and 2012 and again in 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile, Kohli took over as India's permanent captain in the white-ball formats at the start of 2017. Yet, Yuvraj played only eight ODIs that season under Kohli before being dropped from the side for good.

Responding to the question on whether Kohli could have helped Yuvraj during his captaincy stint, Yograj told Inside Sport:

"As I told you, there are no friends in the sphere of success, money and glory. There were always backstabbers, people who wanted to put you down. People were scared of Yuvraj Singh because they were afraid where he would usurp their seats because he was such a great player created by the God Almighty. He has been the greatest of players, who they were scared – right from MS Dhoni, everybody – ‘oh he might take my chair‘"

Kohli is one of India's most successful captains, with 135 wins in 213 matches across formats. He helped them dominate Test cricket in the second half of the 2010s, including leading India to their first-ever series win in Australia in 2018/19.

Yuvraj Singh played a massive role in two of MS Dhoni's three ICC titles as skipper

Yuvraj Singh came up clutch several times in the 2011 ODI World Cup [Credit: Getty]

Playing under MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh played a massive role in ending Team India's drought in World Cups. The former all-rounder produced remarkable half-centuries against England and Australia to help the Men in Blue win the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.

Yuvraj took his game several notches higher in the home ODI World Cup in 2011, finishing as the Player of the Tournament. The now-43-year-old scored 362 runs at an average of over 90 with four half-centuries and a century in nine matches.

The legendary cricketer also shone with the ball, finishing with 15 wickets at an average of 25.13 and an economy of 5.02. Yet, Yuvraj did not feature in the 2015 ODI World Cup.

The Chandigarh-born cricketer finished his international career with 11,778 runs and 148 wickets in 402 games.