28 April,2017 09:30 AM IST | | Shreeram Gokhale
Kolkata Knight Riders have been an excellent chasing side. A major reason for that has been the Robin Uthappa-Gautam Gambhir partnership, often as the opening pair
Robin Uthappa
Pune: Kolkata Knight Riders have been an excellent chasing side. A major reason for that has been the Robin Uthappa-Gautam Gambhir partnership, often as the opening pair.
With the KKR team management deciding to open the innings with a pinch hitter (Sunil Narine) to compensate for the absence of Andre Russell, Uthappa has had to drop down to No 3. But not much has changed for this clean striker of the ball, as was evident against the Rising Pune Supergiant at the MCA stadium here on Wednesday.
Early in 2014, Uthappa had made some changes to his batting technique, including his stance and his feet position for different bowlers.
Batting with caution
He also started to bat with a lot more caution, still trying to play positive cricket. "I think I have settled into my technique and so I have a lot of faith in what I'm doing," Uthappa said at the post-match presentation. The right-hander from Bangalore started cautiously against the Supergiant, scoring 12 runs with just one boundary in his first 12 balls. Then came the game changer. Uthappa tried to smash Imran Tahir into the mid-wicket stands. He got too much under the ball, but Jaydev Unadkat made a royal mess of it, dropping the catch and conceding a four.
Robin's explosive response
Uthappa's response was explosive. He scored 47-ball 87-run knock, his highest in the IPL.
His seven fours and six sixes was a clear message to people, who have already started naming younsgters to take the baton from MS Dhoni.
