"When I came into the team or when you came into the team, our seniors were very disciplined. Obviously there was no social media so there were no distractions. There was a certain behaviour that we boys had to carry, how they talk to people, how they talk to the media. Because they were the ambassadors of the game and India," said Yuvraj in the discussion.
However, the 2011 World Cup-winning player feels that the things are not the same anymore as there are only a couple of seniors around while the rest are youngsters who are coming and going.
"So that is what I had told you guys. After playing for India, you have to be more careful about your image. But I feel the third generation. There are only you two seniors, Virat and you, who are playing all the formats, rest of the guys are coming and going.
"I just feel there are very few guys to look up to and I feel that a sense of respect towards seniors, that has become a thin line now. Koi bhi kisiko kuch bhee keh deta bhain (anyone can say anything to anyone)," he further added.
Yuvraj also stated that during his time the youngsters were conscious of what they did because of responsible seniors around the team. "I think juniors, because of social media, party scenes, these things, we could not even think about that in our time. Because we had that fear that if we made some mistake our seniors will tell us that do not do this, this is not right," he added.
On the other hand, in a light-hearted revelation, Rohit admitted that Yuvraj was his first cricket crush. "When I came into the team, my cricket crush was Yuvraj Singh. I just wanted to talk to Yuvraj, I wanted to see how he prepares, the role that Yuvraj had, I had to essay the same role eventually in the middle order," Rohit said during the interaction.
"When it came to fielding, I wanted to learn from Yuvraj. There was an incident in which I had entered the team bus early, I was half an hour early and I had taken the seat which was originally reserved for Yuvraj. He then entered the bus and I thought `that is how you make an entry`," he added.
The Indian ODI vice-captain also recalled a funny incident over the same. "He asked me `do you know whose seat this is`? He then said, `get up, it is my seat, you go sit on another seat`."
Rohit went on to add that he keeps speaking to the youngsters in the team, and tries to help them out. "When I came into the team, there were so many seniors. I think I was the only youngster alongside Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina. The atmosphere is light now. I keep talking to the youngsters, the five-six of them.
"I speak to Rishabh a lot. There was so much scrutiny on him and he got worked up. Media should also think before writing about him. But scrutiny will be there as long as you are playing for India," admitted the batsman who scored a record five hundreds in last year's World Cup.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
