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India news
Uthappa still craves national cap
ESPNcricinfo staff
January 24, 2011
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Players/Officials: Robin Uthappa
Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League
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Robin Uthappa may have forged a lucrative career in the IPL with his clean hitting, but has said that he still craves the India cap, though he hasn't represented the country since 2008. Uthappa fetched a whopping $2.1 million from the Pune franchise at the 2011 IPL auction, making him the second most expensive cricketer in the league, after Gautam Gambhir.
"It feels pretty good and satisfying," Uthappa told PTI. "There are people who think that I am worth that much. [But] eventually my passion is to play for the country first. The India cap is lot dearer to me than playing in the IPL. Players should strive hard to represent their country first than go for the IPL event. When they play for their country, their worth becomes that much that they can command good money.
"I hope to do well in the IPL and also hope that the [India] selectors take note of my performance. I have always tried to perform to the best of my abilities whenever I have got an opportunity to play for the country. But it's up to the selectors whether I fit in their scheme of things or not."
Uthappa played for India in the 2007 one-day World Cup and was a key member of their World Twenty20 success the same year. However, he lost his place in the limited-overs' sides after a series of poor performances. Following two indifferent seasons, he proved his worth in IPL 2010 as an attacking batsman-wicketkeeper for Bangalore, leading to his astronomical valuation at the auction earlier this month.
"To be honest, I don't know how to react," Uthappa said about his price tag. "But I was sure to come somewhere close to that amount. The fact that I belong to Pune Warriors, makes me responsible towards them. I will play to the best of my ability for my new team. I am okay with the swapping [from Bangalore to Pune]. New team and new thinking, that's all. Naturally, there was a bonding, but that's okay."
Uthappa's biggest strength as a batsman is his ability to walk down the track to fast bowlers, and hit them straight or with a horizontal bat, depending on the length bowled. "People are becoming lot more open-minded about the shots," he explained. "It depends on the situation and how much you have practiced. As a batsman, you are experimenting more with the sweep shot, the paddle-sweep, you walk down and play those shots. It's all innovation and it is only going to go forward."
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People will be there to find mistakes even India wins the world cup...All the players are highly competitive lets support them rather criticizing using our cricket knowledge. I do agree Dhoni haven't played up to his best in ODI..dont forget he changed his batting style and played just to win for long time he is lion hearted he will bounce back no doubt. Recall Dhoni body language after winning the semi final for CSK he roared (that innings was after heavy criticism on him)..All the best India you rock, lets win world cup for our millions people and especially for our cricket god Sachin.
Posted by shibukunnamthanam on (January 25 2011, 07:15 AM GMT)Indian selecters gave lots of chance to play for Uthappa.. He played 38 ODI matches and mark only 5 HALF centuries...AVE 27.10 Only UTHAPPA problems ,"ALWAYS TRYING HIT ALL BALL.for FOUR OR SIX RUNS.Eg.AFRIDI type " . that is good for T20 not good for ODI OR TEST MATCHES..He is good batsman..Chance should come..!!
Posted byUthappa first you play well against Ravindra Jadeja, i saw you helpless when playing against him in Challenger Trophy!!!
Posted by peterss on (January 25 2011, 05:00 AM GMT)uthappa and Irfan are the MOST OVERRATED players indian cricket has ever seen! IPL franchise that bought these two players are bound to be loose. Mark my words, pathan is going to be the biggest flop EVER! At least uthappa has some quality but his price tag is still too high. Buying Irfan is pointless!!!! No quality, nothing at all! Delhi is going to lose because of him. definetely!
Posted by givemefood on (January 25 2011, 03:46 AM GMT)Agreed that Kris Srikanth tends to lean towards TN players. What about the previous Selectors? How many Mumbaikars did we have for a long time? I'm from Mumbai and even so felt it was unfair towards quality players. Uttappa will just have to wait. The only place he is performed is IPL and that isn't enough to get selected into national team. And to all the Dhoni bashers/haters... there are only 2 players in the Indian Cricket team who no one can mess with, SRT and Dhoni. Selectors will have no say on this even if Dhoni performed poorly for the rest of the year.
Posted by D.Sharma on (January 25 2011, 03:42 AM GMT)For all those crying for Uthappa get some sense! I'm from Bangalore but if you look at the batsmen in the first 15, he has no chance of getting in. Let me name some batsmen who will always be chosen in front of Uthappa. Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Kohli, Raina, Yusuf... The only plus Uthappa has over all those is that he can Dhoni a break from wicket keeping. Kohli, Raina, Yuvraj, Yusuf, Sehwag and Tendulkar can also bowl...
Posted by mogan707 on (January 25 2011, 03:30 AM GMT)Uthappa must get a few chances keeping in fact that the schedule of India for the next twelve months.But he has to correct his batting technique and improve wicket keeping skills to suit for the longer format.Surely it is the ultimate test.I have seen him batting in RAnji Matches;Most often he throws away his wicket after a good start and hence the non-selection.I hope he is working on these areas
Posted by vinciyaaron on (January 25 2011, 03:27 AM GMT)Uthappa is the best. He has a charismatic style of batting which is very revetting to the viewer. Plus he has the shock factor............imagine 2 players like Y Pathan in the Indian team..........they are confidence boosters and can demoralize any opposition. Srikkanth had the same style and scored 39 in the 1983 finals. Selectors need to think "out of the box"............or rather shock and awe as the yanks would say. I am still hoping he can make the team!!!!!
Posted byrobin uthappa enterd into the team as an opener. but later his batting position was either 7 or 8( when irfan pathan batted at no. 3 position)... he is a batsman who is tortured by the team and the selection commity....... he is the best fielder along with kohli and raina ( yuvraj is not fit for last 3 years at least)... the selection commity avoided him for dinesh karthik, muraly vijay, ravindra jadeja and rohit sharma..... to avoid the protest from bangalore, the selectors took vinay kumar and later he is also avoided....
Posted by ohno on (January 25 2011, 01:07 AM GMT)Indian team will miss "Mr. Ravindra Jadeja" as 5th bowler in WC. No point in selecting "Piyush Chawla" after investing for 2 years on Jadeja, who consistently completed his quota of overs economically.