Two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir is facing a massive social media backlash following his comments on air during the India vs South Africa contest in Perth on Sunday. Gautam Gambhir's trolling came after he declared Suryakumar Yadav's knock of 68 off 40 deliveries against the Temba Bavuma-led side was better than Virat Kohli's match-winning innings played against Pakistan earlier in the tournament.

“He got us to 133. I've seen a lot of innings in the past. People have got hundreds for India, he himself has got a hundred. It can't get better than this. It can't get tougher than this. Whether it's the condition, or the bowling. When he came in to bat, India were 50/5 (26/2), and from there, if you can get 60-odd off 40, on this kind of wicket… I haven't seen a better T20 innings to be honest, than this,” Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports.

“Yes, you can talk about hundreds and stuff, but it can't get better than this. For me, this is the best T20 innings that has been played by an Indian,” Gautam Gambhir elaborated.

Notably, Virat Kohli's 82* off 53 balls at the Melbourne Cricket Ground has been dubbed as the best T20I innings in the history of the game.

Australian great Greg Chappell even labeled Virat Kohli's knock as the “song by God”.

“The Bhagavad Gita is the holy book which is the synthesis of Hinduism. Literally translated, it means “the song by God”. Kohli played an innings that was as close to a ‘song by god' as has ever been played in T20 cricket,” Greg Chappell wrote in his column for the Australian newspaper “Sydney Morning Herald”.

“Like a cat playing with a new skein of wool, Kohli teased then expertly picked apart an excellent Pakistan bowling attack until it lay unravelled, spent and exposed on the green carpet of the MCG.” “….It was an innings that showcased the art of batting like no other that I have seen in a lifetime of watching cricket,” former Team India coach added.

“Ironically, it was also the innings that legitimised T20 cricket as, dare I say it, an art form, more than any that I have seen in the past 15 years. Nobody can dismiss T20 cricket as simply entertainment ever again,” Greg Chappell noted.

That's why Gautam Gambhir's opinion in favor of Suryakumar Yadav's knock against South Africa came as shallow to Indian supporters, who blasted the cricketer-turned-politician for having some sort of an issue with Virat Kohli.

However, this is not the first time when Gautam Gambhir has undermined Virat Kohli's performances in the T20 World Cup.

After the match against the Netherlands in which India No.3 made an unbeaten 62 off 44 deliveries, he stated that Suryakumar Yadav had taken the pressure away from him due to his explosive batting.

Suryamkumar Yadav scored an unbeaten 51 off 25 deliveries against the Dutch side, also the fourth-quickest fifty in the history of the T20 World Cup.

“At No.4, he doesn't(often) get the luxury of batting in first six overs, still being able to score close to 1000 runs at that strike rate. He has taken lot of pressure off whether it is Virat Kohli that he is batting alongside, Rohit Sharma or for that matter even KL Rahul. Whenever he has batted, he has been the aggressor,” Gambhir told the tournament's host broadcaster.

“He is the one who is taking lot of pressure off the top three and that's the reason why India have been able to get to 180 runs(179) today,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.

Coming back to the India vs South Africa contest, the Proteas eventually went on to win the match by 5 wickets to go top of Group 2.

After India won the toss and chose to bat, Lungi Ngidi rocked them with an exceptional show of fast, ferocious, and swing bowling as he finished with figures of 4/29. The Men in Blue never recovered Lungi Ngidi's splendid first spell as they could only manage 133 runs on the board.

In reply, South Africa secured the win in the final over of the match, thanks to quickfire half-centuries from Aiden Markram and David Miller with the latter hitting the winning runs, a boundary off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Even India captain Rohit Sharma credited the partnership between Aiden Markram and David Miller for South Africa's victory.

“We expected the pitch to have something in it, with the weather around. We knew there will be help for the seamers. Which is why you saw that 130 was not an easy chase. I thought we fought well till the end but South Africa played well in the end. The pitch is such that the wicket can come any time for the seamers. It was a match-winning partnership from Miller and Markram. But we were not good enough on the field. We have played in such conditions so conditions are not an excuse. We want to be consistent in that department. We could not hold on to our chances, we misses a few run-outs including myself. [On that Ashwin over] I have seen what happened at the last with the spinners. So I wanted to finish with Ashwin before the last over. I wanted to see that the seamers bowl the right overs. Given the new batter came in, it was the perfect time for Ashwin to bowl,” Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation ceremony.