Robin Uthappa revealed the wrong choice he made in his career during a Rajasthan Royals podcast session. Uthappa shared how changing his technique to play Test cricket fizzled his international career.
Uthappa revealed that he pursued Test cricket at the wrong age. He shares how it cost him some of his batting aggression and affected his career wit the national team.
Uthappa said, “My biggest goal was to play Test cricket for India. Had I pursued that at 20-21, I probably by this time would’ve played Test cricket. I wanted to have no regrets at the end of my career and wanted to be sure that I brought the best out of me.”
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Uthappa took Pravin Amre’s help in order to tune himself for Test cricket. however, in the process of improving his technique, he lost his natural flair.
“Hence at 25, I decided to overhaul my batting technique under Pravin Amre and became a technically better batsman who could be there for long and bat for long hours and be more consistent, which made me let go of some of my batting aggression in the process. I thought to play Test cricket for India, I needed to alter my technique …….In hindsight, I may have pursued the goal at the wrong time at 25 years of age,” he said.
During the podcast, Uthappa also recollected the days after a young MS Dhoni-led Indian team defeated Pakistan in the finals fo the 2007 T20 World Cup at Johannesburg. He said, “After winning the World Cup, I did not sleep for three days straight. It didn’t really hit us initially; we were just ecstatic that we beat Pakistan in the finals.”
He added, “The enormity of it hit us when we landed in India. The reception we received was massive. I mean Bombay doesn’t stop for anyone, that day the entire city came to a standstill. It moved only in the direction our bus was moving. Bizarrely we went through all of the Indian weather in that one day.
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“What would usually take 45 minutes to an hour on a normal day, took us 5 and a half hours on that particular day. It went from being cold to rainy to humid and then hot. By the time we reached Wankhede, we were famished. I remember people throwing water, fruits, and chocolates at us so that we don’t lose energy and keep going. It was fun and all of us really cherished those memories. It was a massive relief to win a World Cup after 1983,” he continued.
“I don’t think words do justice to the emotion of being a World Cup winner. It surpasses pretty much everything you feel as a cricketer. It’s a bit complex but it’s one of the most amazing feelings you get as an athlete. Simply because it makes you feel proud that you made a difference and added value to your team at that point in time to win a world championship. You have played your part and everybody has to play their part to win a World Cup,” Robin Uthappa signed off.
