Express News Service
CHENNAI: Amidst the euphoria of witnessing a late flourish from MS Dhoni’s willow — allowing fans to indulge in some wistful nostalgia of what the man from Ranchi was once capable of — it shouldn’t be forgotten that the platform for Chennai Super Kings’ victory on Sunday was set by another man in the twilight of his career. Robin Uthappa has been a formidable contributor for various teams in the IPL — his days with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) being the apogee — but he had struggled to find his groove in the past couple of seasons. On Sunday, like Dhoni, Uthappa chose a great time to turn back the clock with an innings of 63 off 44 balls.
While Uthappa of course deserves all the credit for doing the job, the fact that the former India batter was persisted with in the first place illustrates why CSK have entered their ninth IPL final (out of the 12 seasons that they have played). In his two games before Sunday, Uthappa had managed scores of just 19 and 2. The 35-year-old had come into the side only as a replacement for an injured Suresh Raina. While the latter was admittedly struggling for runs himself, it would have been so easy for Chennai to send Uthappa back to warm the bench for Qualifier 1 against Delhi. Raina, after all, has served Chennai incredibly well in big games over the years and knows the team’s template far better than the man from Karnataka. But as Stephen Fleming reminded after the game, Chennai seldom drop somebody without giving them a proper go. So once Uthappa had found his way into the side, he was going to get every opportunity possible to make it count.
“We are proud of every performance that a player puts up that helps us win the game. That was pretty special from Uthappa. He had been out of action for a long time. He has been training hard. An opportunity came up. And as everyone knows, when opportunities are given, we tend to stick with players a little bit longer than the rest. He has repaid us in bucket loads. His intent was good right from the first ball. It was flashes of his old self. His partnership with Ruturaj (Gaikwad) set the match up for us,” Fleming explained.
Considering the huge stakes involved in the IPL, team owners, in particular, tend to be ruthless with their decisions, often demanding too much too soon and missing out on drawing the optimum from a potential match-winner. But CSK, refreshingly, haven’t been prone to that sort of mindset. The likes of Shane Watson have spoken about how it has helped them prolong their IPL journeys. Uthappa seems to be enjoying the benefits of that relaxed environment now.
“There were doubts (whether he would play or not). You listen to a lot of chatter that is happening outside. I just felt I would be able to contribute. This is one of the most secure franchises going around. That only makes a player give that much back to the franchise,” Uthappa said.
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