While Gautam Gambhir and Darren Bravo were punishing the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers at will during the team’s pre-match training on Tuesday, Robin Uthappa didn’t even pick up the bat at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium. Instead, with his headphones plugged onto his ears with a nonchalant look, he preferred to do his sprints.
Come Wednesday, however, the Bangalorean blasted the Rising Pune Supergiant bowlers to hog the limelight. No doubt he was fortunate to have been dropped on the boundary line early on in his innings. But the manner in which he exploded thereafter — scoring a 47-ball 87 — to help Knight Riders overhaul a target of 183 with no trouble was an exhibition of Uthappa at his best.
Such was Uthappa’s onslaught, especially against the Supergiant spinners — he fetched 57 runs off 25 balls, that the wicketkeeper-batsman stole the thunder from Gambhir, who was featuring in his 100th game for Knight Riders.
The belligerent knock turned out to be a perfect icing on the cake for Uthappa, who had earlier did his glovework to perfection. His three stumpings were instrumental in Supergiant being unable to run away with the game in the first innings.
No doubt that young chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who combined with Uthappa to see the back of M.S. Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary in the same over, lavished praise on his senior teammate.
“85-plus is a very good score in T20. As compared to Test level, it would be around 150. In T20 if someone scores around 85, you have almost won the match,” said Kuldeep. “He batted very well and was good in wicketkeeping. He has been working very hard on it. Hopefully, he continues to do the wicketkeeping like this.”
Under-rated performer
Uthappa may have had a quiet season of domestic cricket, losing his place in the Karnataka Ranji Trophy squad for the first time in a decade. But when it comes to the IPL, the 31-year-old is one of the most reliable batsmen. However, despite having entered the list of top-5 run-getters in the IPL, Uthappa is often not given his due as the backbone of the squad.
During his 10-edition stint in the IPL — spanned across four different teams — he has put in impressive performances on a consistent basis. Still, he is not often considered in the league of top IPL batsmen. No wonder then that Matthew Hayden, the former Australian opener, called him an “under-rated” batsman in T20.
Over the last couple of years, having tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Sheetal, Uthappa has tempered down. If he continues to remain at his nonchalant best, as was evident on Tuesday, he would do a world of good for himself and Knight Riders.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Amol Karhadkar / Pune – April 27th, 2017
