4 Reasons why Uthappa shouldn’t have been ignored for Aussie tour: It is evident that national selectors have given chances to several youngsters and budding cricketers over the years. Some of them glued their place in the side, a few have been in and out owing to inconsistent performances, while many have faded awy. But such has not been the case for Robin Uthappa, one of the most consistent batsmen in the domestic circuit but the national selectors continuously choose to ignore him over the years
Robin is a much improved player, who has worked on his technique, temperament and shot-selection. A crucial question can be raised – How well has he done in the domestic arena, and if he was he good enough at the international level? Well a straight forward answer to this will; be he has not got enough opportunities at international level. The amount of chances Binny, Jadeja, Raina, Rohit got, Robin should consider himself unlucky.
Uthappa proved to be a team player once possessing selfless attitude. When he was called-up for the last two ODI games of the 5-match series against Sri Lanka in Nov 2014, in the game when Rohit scored 264, he only took singles and remained at the other end in order to put Rohit on strike. He could have also hit quick firing 50 against a shaky bowling that Rohit was punishing. But he played the role of ideal teammate. He stayed not out on 16 in that partnership of 128 with Rohit.
Uthappa was selected for the England tour but did not have any role to play there, and has been ignored for the home series against West Indies thereafter. ‘Ignored’ and ‘Benched’ are the two words that has been associated with him for long.
In the recently selected squad for the Australia limited overs series, many new faces are included and so the veterans like Yuvraj, Nehra, Bhajji have a chance now to revive their career, but still no signs of the selectors finding a way to accommodate Uthappa.
Even in the tour to Zimbabwe, Robin who is now a top order batsman was send at no.6 in the ODIs and even though he failed to make an impression he did make the right noises in the T20’s against the same opposition. The Karnataka batsman put up some creditable performances to lead India’s batting charge in the shortest format. However, the selectors choose to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to all his good performances which is baffling.
Here are the 4 reasons why Uthappa should have been called up for the Australia tour.
- Phenomenal Performance in Domestic circuit
In last two domestic seasons, the elegant right-hander has been an electrifying performer in the domestic circuit. From IPL to CLT20 to Ranji he has been among the top run scorers. He was the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy 2014-15 with 912 runs in 11 matches at an average of 50.66 (2 centuries, 5 fifties). In Ranji Trophy 2015-16, he scored 759 runs in 8 matches, averaging 58.38 (3 centuries and 3 fifties). Robin Uthappa played an instrumental role in KKR winning the IPL title in 2014. He was the orange cap holder with 660 runs averaging 44 in that season. Being a top scorer in Ranji and smashing runs at an average of 50+ for two consecutive seasons is no joke which is backed by 600+ IPL runs in one season averaging 44 in T20s. In all first-class matches in 2015, he smashed 1410 runs in 18 matches.
Thus, it was proved, that he has been a consistent performer if he has been given a long run and a bit of responsibility, like KKR did.
