Robin Venu Uthappa is a former professional Indian cricketer who played for the Indian National cricket team and many IPL teams. He was a right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper, who bowled part-time right-arm medium.
Career
In April 2006 during the English tour of India in the seventh match Uthappa made his debut. In this match he scored 86 where he was the opening batsman and was finally run out. In a limited overs match this was the highest score of an Indian debutant.
| Role | Batsman |
| Born | 11 Nov 1985 |
| Nationality |
India
|
| Nickname | Robbie, The Walking Assassin |
| Team History | |
| Saurashtra cricket team | 2017 - present |
Super Kings
|
2021 - 2022 |
Rajasthan Royals
|
2020 |
Knight Riders
|
2014 - 2019 |
Karnataka
|
2002 - 2016 |
India
|
2006 - 2015 |
Pune Warriors
|
2011 - 2013 |
Royal Challengers
|
2009 - 2010 |
Mumbai Indians
|
2008 |
Uthappa came to people’s attention when he was playing in the Challengers trophy for the India B team. In the match against the India A team he performed well by scoring 66 runs in the year 2005. In the same tournament, the next year Uthappa scored 100 runs in 93 balls which was a match winning knock and made him a part of the big league.
In the past Uthappa was a player of the India under-19 team which won the Asia Cup. Formerly Uthappa was a wicket keeper batsman. As in the List A he has a batting average of about 40 and a strike rate of almost 90 he was considered as a specialist in limited overs cricket.
Due to his consistent performance Uthappa was selected in the 2007 ODI team. In the match against West Indies he made quick 70 runs off just 41 balls. Uthappa was a member of the Indian cricket team that was selected for the 2007 Cricket World Cup played in West Indies. However he could score only 30 runs in the 3 group matches he played. As India lost to both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh it became the end of the tournament for India. They could not even qualify to the Super 8 stage.
In the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa while playing against Pakistan, Uthappa scored important 50 runs when the team was struggling at 36 for 4. In this way he is the first Indian batsman to score a half century in an International Twenty20 match.
He played for India in 46 ODIs and 13 T20 Internationals, finishing up internationally in 2015. He was named in India’s 30-man 2015 Cricket World Cup squad. He scored 934 runs in his 46 ODI matches at 25.94, including six half-centuries.
In 2008 he was also a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in which he represented the Mumbai Indians. In 2009 he exchanged places with Zaheer Khan and moved to Royal Challenger Bangalore team. He gave tremendous performances for the Royal challengers in the IPL where he hit runs at a very high strike rate and devastated almost every bowler in the opposite team.
He left RCB for Pune Warriors in 2011, playing there until 2013, before joining Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 where he enjoyed a successful period. In 2014, he won the IPL’s Golden Cap for most runs with 660.
He played regularly for KKR until 2019, before stints later in his career with Rajasthan Royals (2020) and Chennai Super Kings (2021 and 2022). He played for Dubai Capitals in the 2023 ILT20, despite announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket in September 2022.
Career Highlights
Robin became the first Indian player to score 50 in a Twenty20 World Cup. He never scored an international century, but made 22 in first-class cricket and 16 in List A cricket.
