Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa

Personal information
Full name	Robin Venu Uthappa
Born	(1985-11-11) 11 November 1985 Kodagu, Karnataka, India
Nickname	Robbie, The Walking Assassin
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Batting style	Right-hand batsman
Bowling style	Right-hand medium
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	India
ODI debut (cap 165)	15 April 2006 v England
Last ODI	6 July 2008 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no.	17
T20I debut (cap 14)	13 September 2007 v Scotland
Last T20I	30 March 2012 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2002/03–present	Karnataka
2008	Mumbai Indians
2009–2011	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011–present	Pune Warriors
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA T20I Matches 38 90 120 11 Runs scored 786 5,942 3,777 168 Batting average 27.10 40.42 35.29 18.66 100s/50s 0/5 13/35 8/24 0/1 Top score 86 162 160 50 Balls bowled – 646 168 – Wickets – 11 2 – Bowling average – 36.45 89 – 5 wickets in innings – 0 0 – 10 wickets in match – 0 0 – Best bowling – 3/26 1/23 – Catches/stumpings 15 81/1 55/- 1/-
Source: ESPNCricinfo, 10 January 2013

Robin Venu Uthappa (Kannada: ರಾಬಿನ್‌ ವೇಣು ಉತ್ತಪ್ಪ)  pronunciation  (born 11 November 1985 in Kodagu, Karnataka) is an Indian cricketer. His father is Venu Uthappa, an international hockey referee from Kodagu, Karnataka, mother Roselyn is a home maker and hails from Kozhikode, Kerala and his sister Sharon is a business owner. He studied at St. Joseph's Boys High School, Bangalore. The same school Rahul Dravid went to. He speaks Kodava language language and Malayalam. He made his One Day International debut in the seventh and final match of the English tour of India in April 2006. He had a successful debut, making 86 as an opening batsman before being run out. It was the highest score for any Indian debutant in a limited overs match. He is also named 'The Walking Assassin" for his tactic of charging the bowler. He played an important role in India's win at the ICC World T20 World Cup 2007. However, he then suffered a form slump and has not played for India since mid-2008 and was relegated to a Grade C contract.

Career

Uthappa first came to the public's attention when he made 66 for India B against India A in the Challenger Trophy in 2005. The following year, in the same tournament, Uthappa made match-winning 93-ball 100 against the same team which propelled him in the big league. Previously, he had been a member of the India under-19 team that won the Asia Cup. Once a wicket-keeper batsman, his List A batting average of near 40 with a strike rate of approximately 90 has made him regarded as something of a limited overs cricket specialist.

He was recalled to the ODI side in January 2007 for the series against the West Indies.He didn't feature in the first two games, however he scored a quick 70 in the third game followed by a quickfire 28 in the fourth game.

He was selected in the 15-member squad of the Indian Cricket team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies in March–April 2007. He played in all 3 group games, but only scored 30 runs in total as India suffered a shock defeat to Bangladesh and a loss to Sri Lanka resulting in the team not qualifying for the Super 8 stage.

In the sixth ODI of the NatWest Series 2007–2008, he scored a sensational 47 of 33 balls to take India to a thrilling victory, keeping Indian hopes alive in the 7 match series that they were trailing 2–3 before the match. Used to batting as an opener, in this match he came in at the unfamiliar position of no 7. When he came at the crease India were 5 down for 234 after 40.2 overs, still needing 83 from less than 10 overs. After Dhoni got out in the 47th over with the Indian score at 294, Uthappa kept a cool head to take India to the target with two balls to spare in a remarkable victory.

Uthappa also scored a crucial 50 against Pakistan in the 20–20 World Cup in South Africa, when India were tottering at 39/4. With this, he became the first Indian to score a 50 in a 20–20 International match. India subsequently won the match in bowl out 3–0, where he bowled one of the three deliveries that hit the stumps.

Uthappa has played at all junior levels and first class for Karnataka State Cricket Association.

Indian Premier League

Uthappa played for Mumbai Indians in the 2008 Indian Premier League and had a fairly successful opening season. In his very first match he scored 48 runs from 38 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In the next game, against Chennai Super Kings, he made 43 (36) including 6 fours and a six. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, he stitched an unbeaten 123-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo, where he scored a run-a-ball 37 to steer Mumbai to an easy win. Then he scored 34 off just 21 deliveries to lead Mumbai to an emphatic victory over the in-form Rajasthan Royals. However, a quickfire 23-ball 46 from Uthappa went in vain after Delhi Daredevils clinched a 5-wicket win in a nail-biting finish.

In January 2009, he was swapped with Zaheer Khan and moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had a disappointing 2009 season of IPL for the Royal Challengers. His only note-worthy innings came against the Mumbai Indians in a match where he struck 66* off 42 balls to guide the RCB run-chase.

In a match against Kings XI Punjab in 2010 Indian Premier League he smashed a 21-ball 51, the second fastest fifty in Indian Premier League and was instrumental in setting up the win for the Royal Challengers. He came up with another match-winning innings, against Chennai Super Kings, as he struck an unbeaten 68 off just 38 balls. He also won the Man of the match award for this effort. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored an unbeaten 50 from only 22 deliveries to take the Challengers to another comfortable win. He ended the season with 374 runs from 14 innings at an average of 31.16. He also hit 27 sixes, which was the most by any batsman in that season.

For the 2011 Indian Premier League he was bought by Pune Warriors for a huge sum of 2.1 million USD (approximately INR 9.4 crores) in the auction held at Bangalore. He was the second most expensive player in that auction behind Gautam Gambhir, who was bought for 2.4 million USD by Kolkata Knight Riders.

According to Bangalore Mirror, Few Days before the start of Champions league T20 Robin Uttappa convert to Roman Catholicism at the Holy Ghost Church in Bangalore. Bernard Moras, the Archbishop of Bangalore presided over and conducted the ceremony.

Even though IPL 5 was a disappointing one for Pune Warriors India, Robin Uthappa remained their top scorer scoring 405 runs from 16 games, which included a blistering 69 against the RCB.

Season by season at IPL

IPL Batting Statistics of Robin Uthappa
Year	Team	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	4s	6s
2008	Mumbai Indians	14	320	48	35.55	114.69	0	0	34	9
2009	Royal Challengers Bangalore	13	175	66*	15.90	102.94	0	1	18	3
2010		14	374	68*	31.16	171.55	0	3	21	27
2011	Pune Warriors India	13	264	45	26.40	126.31	0	0	27	10
2012		16	405	69	27.00	118.07	0	2	38	10
2013		1	24	24	24.00	109.00	0	0	2	1
2008–2013 Total		70	1538	69	26.98	126.16	0	6	140	60

External links

• Uthappa on Twitter
• Player profile: Robin Uthappa from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Robin Uthappa from CricketArchive
• Karnataka announces cash award for Robin Uthappa
• Kerala announces cash awards for Sreesanth, Uthappa
• Interview of Robin Uthappa in 2006
• Interview of Robin Uthappa when he was in the India U-19 team
• Interview of Robin Uthappa on the 'Chai with Lakshmi' show in 2012