Robin Uthappa - Not Done Yet!

The Indian cricket team of 2006 bore an utterly different face from what it wears today. A little over fifteen years back in the day, the team still boasted the Midas touch of a Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. 

Yuvraj Singh was very much there, blossoming into the great white-ball batter he’d become. A promising Dinesh Karthik had only just arrived into the mix. The long-locked MS Dhoni had already made his presence in the team.

And the big news of that year was that the Australians had arrived for, believe it or not, a seven-match ODI series. 

Such enormous duration to a bilateral white-ball series would seem in today’s day and age, a misadventure in testing one’s patience given that T20Is are on the menu today.

But the key talking point for India was the presence of a young 20-year-old.

Although technically speaking, his arrival into coloured Indian clothing was forgettable; the April 9 - bound Guwahati - hosted ODI against England, his debut would be abandoned without a ball being bowled, he’d save his best for the Australia series.

And Robin Uthappa took no time whatsoever to put his signature in the series given just how bravely he batted in the second (of the seventh in the series) ODI at Kochi.

Chasing a daunting 307 for a win, something that would seem like a 350 in today’s batter-friendly ODI settings, Men in Blue had a nightmare start losing Gautam Gambhir in the fourth over. Tendulkar, too, would depart shortly for just sixteen. 

But it took some mad effort from Uthappa to make heads turn in a contest was India were going nowhere. 

He’d stay put for eleven overs during India’s unsuccessful chase but would execute a mini-blast in scoring 41 off just 30.

Make no mistake. This was ‘Robbie’s’ maiden appearance versus Australia. Any doubts whether that could’ve been any easy stand dumbfounded for back then Brett Lee was at his peak and the very ‘in-your-face’ Mitchell Johnson was unsparingly aggressive.

He’d score nothing in the next game, only to fire an 18-ball-30 in the Chandigarh-hosted fourth ODI. 

That knock would truly headline Robin’s fearlessness; the sight of a young, completely inexperienced batsman walking down the wicket to fiery fast bowlers was a sight to behold.

Moreover, it was a statement in itself that the future didn’t look bleak for an India that had seen peak Dravid, Ganguly and Sachin.

But the thirties that were immediately followed by the single-digit scores didn’t really tell the Uthappa story all too well as much as what the right-hander achieved in the final two ODIs.

At Nagpur, where India chased a mammoth 318 for a win, it was Uthappa who revived the fledgling hopes of a side after Brad Hogg triggered a middle-order collapse; Dravid, Pathan and Yuvraj departing for just 43 collectively.

Truly speaking if there was ever one of the most standout 40 somethings in the 2000s, then it was the Karnataka lad’s bludgeoning 44 off just 28 at Nagpur against a bowling attack as formidable as they come.

Long before a 40-plus knock emerged as a matchwinning differentiator in T20Is, Uthappa set its template by demonstrating how to go big in ODIs. He’d prove himself as being a force one could rely on in the game that followed. In scoring 47 of India’s 195 runs in the final contest, a knock that helped India win, he took the onus of scoring briskly when all the senior statesmen had walked to the dugout.

He was unafraid. He was relentless. 

Was he going to become a staple matchwinner?

Fourteen years down the line, Robin Uthappa appeared on an exclusive for The Quint, circa 2020, wherein he dropped a bombshell.

He confessed that for the better part of a half-a-decade journey, he was battling depression.

To the cricket purist for whom a Yuvi, Bhajji, Gauti, Robbie have mattered just as much as the Wall, Master Blaster and the ‘God of the Offside,’ this was terrible news.

Gladly, there was no tragedy attached to it. 

What was, of course, indigestible, was the idea of stomaching something like Robin Uthappa attempting to commit suicide, when he was once- whether Down Under or in the sub-continent - the brutal force that didn’t while away a second in muscling bowlers down the fence or to the point boundary.

In that sense, that Robin Uthappa is still very much amid us and is going great guns is absolutely brilliant news for just about everybody.

Just as the realization that at 36, the well-mannered right-hander is back to doing what he does best: flooring fans in white-ball cricket.

In a sport that often takes a lot from you whilst giving little, especially if you don’t really hold your own position in it, Robin Uthappa is giving fans entertainment.

And he’s giving big entertainment in the IPL. 

He’s done it on a lot many occasions in the past for the KKR. He’s doing it superbly now for his new home - the MS Dhoni, Bravo and Jadeja-powered CSK.

And a few hours back, Robin Uthappa’s big burly hits became the talk of the T20 town in what turned out to be the most-watched IPL game of the season so far.

Against the Super Giants, he’d made a 50 but none suspected the carnage that was to follow the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 12. 

In hitting a magnificent, backbreaking 88, the Walking Assassin reignited the love he’d commanded fifteen years ago when he first walked down the pitch and began to daringly walk down to seamers.

To call Robin a batter who’s given us all of that would be a terrible misnomer. Ask Bravo, whose slower ones produced fast-paced hits. Check with Hasaranga who’d find himself lifted down the ground for towering hits to the fence.

If you don’t believe it, check with Akash Deep, whose line and length Uthappa was largely responsible for upsetting. 

Frankly, it’s one thing to score a lot many runs in the IPL. But to have hit no fewer than 4,916 (as on Apr 14) whilst ensuring the bowlers remain under sustained pressure is no mean feat.

Uthappa’s strike rate after 198 games is north of 131. More importantly, in another couple of matches’ time, he’d have played his 200th IPL contest. That’s only after having represented his country on 59 separate occasions. 

During this time, he’s made runs, failed to score many, found himself shuffled in a batting lineup, changed IPL outfits and is still here, and not done yet.

For someone whose free-willed striking of the ball found plaudits even from the great Sir Vivian Richards, Robbie is your understated candidate for being an inspiring cricketer. 

You realize that loud and clear when you recall in one of the interviews, Uthappa confessed about starting all over again in life by working in some McDonald’s instead of being on a cricket field.

For someone who’d given up hope and just starred in an IPL contest that had a viewership (Hotstar) of 8.1 million, life has much on offer. 

What a turnaround it’s been for this honest cricketer. And it’s not done yet, he's not over yet.