Robin Uthappa Continues to Impress With Kolkata Knight Riders

By: Sandipan Bose

Exactly ten years and five days ago, Robin Uthappa burst onto international cricket with plenty of promise. In the very first match that he played for India he was an opener along with then India captain Rahul Dravid.

He wasn’t as well built as he is today, but always loved playing his shots in the air quite fearlessly. The Coorg-born batted in different positions, was part of the winning 2007 World T20 and somehow lost his way during the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakistan.

Due to a lack of consistency, he was dropped from the Indian team and had to go through the grind once again and wait for his chance.

Uthappa’s hard work was rewarded with two international callbacks in 2014 and 2015, but none of those stints could recreate the old magic.

At the domestic level, he was and still is dubbed a hero, always batted authoritatively for the Kolkata Knight Riders and played a very key role in two of their IPL wins. Uthappa also succeeded in the last few Ranji Trophy seasons and continues to be in the national reckoning.

This year too, he got the perfect start to his IPL season and continues to share a rapport and opening chemistry with his captain, Gautam Gambhir.

Tuesday was one such occasion when he compiled yet another fluent 53 off 28 balls. It’s true that Kings XI Punjab didn’t post a very steep target for the KKR team, and yet a relaxed Uthappa batted as if he was playing a friendly match against the Kings.

Along with a match-winning effort, he also took a brilliant catch behind the stumps off his teammate Yusuf Pathan’s bowling to dismiss Kings captain David Miller, who could have taken the match beyond KKR’s control.

Despite proving all-round skills, there isn’t any guarantee of Uthappa’s chances of a third international comeback, but rest assured he isn’t going anywhere from the national selectors’ radar.

He is someone who is willing to bat at any position and also willing to keep the wickets, as and when required and continues to be an obedient student of the game. The door could open very soon. It’s worth a wait because this isn’t like ‘Waiting for Godot’!