robin newest star on horizon
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1024528
Fifteen years ago, Robin Uthappa dabbled in tennis. The move to cricket came when an eight-year-old Uthappa chanced upon an advertisement for the Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy and asked his parents to read out its contents.
He first held a cricket bat and wore the wicket-keeper's gloves shortly, when his parents decided to enroll him at the academy. He continued to play both sports but had to make a choice as the strokes in tennis and cricket were not complimenting each other. "We asked Robin which game he would like to pursue and he decided on cricket," Rosy, his mother says.
But it was a choice made a few years later, in 2003, at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) that paid rich dividends on Saturday. It was at CCI that Uthappa had his first serious go as an opener, a slot he occupied with a lot of conviction against England to notch-up the highest score (86) by an Indian on debut.
In his capacity as consultant of the Karnataka State Cricket Association's academy, Makrand Waingankar stakes claim to convincing Uthappa, essentially a middle-order bat, wicket-keeper and captain of the junior state side, to become an opener.
After taking a look at him, Vasu Paranjpe, Nari Contractor and Hanumant Singh were also convinced that the middle-order batsman, with a liking for shots and blessed with a potent punch in his follow through, could make a fine opener.
Uthappa was advised to discard his duties as wicket-keeper and focus solely on his batting.
Those who know him well describe him as a fun loving chap who loves his share of laughs and multi-tasking then was only increasing the furrow lines on his forehead. It was his 116 off 93 balls, in the opener's role he enjoys, in the Challenger Trophy against India A that put him in reckoning for a National call.
Venu, Uthappa's father speaks of how Robin felt that the world was passing him by when his mates - Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, VRV Singh and RP Singh - from the Junior World Cup squad of 2004 went ahead and made their India debuts, while he was still finding a foothold in first class cricket. But that was till Saturday.
National Junior Selection Committee chairman Praveen Amre was first impressed by Uthappa's shot-making capacity and ability to rotate the strike. "He was the kind of player we needed then," Amre says about how he first saw Uthappa in action at the selection matches played at the CCI for the Dhaka Junior World Cup. "Today showed that he can adapt to the needs of international cricket."
KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel, at whose academy, Uthappa made his first steps, remembers the nine-year-old as an overweight and talented boy who was asked to keep wickets first in a bid to lose a bit of flab.
Over the years, he has learnt to pull his weight.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1024528
Fifteen years ago, Robin Uthappa dabbled in tennis. The move to cricket came when an eight-year-old Uthappa chanced upon an advertisement for the Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy and asked his parents to read out its contents.
He first held a cricket bat and wore the wicket-keeper's gloves shortly, when his parents decided to enroll him at the academy. He continued to play both sports but had to make a choice as the strokes in tennis and cricket were not complimenting each other. "We asked Robin which game he would like to pursue and he decided on cricket," Rosy, his mother says.
But it was a choice made a few years later, in 2003, at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) that paid rich dividends on Saturday. It was at CCI that Uthappa had his first serious go as an opener, a slot he occupied with a lot of conviction against England to notch-up the highest score (86) by an Indian on debut.
In his capacity as consultant of the Karnataka State Cricket Association's academy, Makrand Waingankar stakes claim to convincing Uthappa, essentially a middle-order bat, wicket-keeper and captain of the junior state side, to become an opener.
After taking a look at him, Vasu Paranjpe, Nari Contractor and Hanumant Singh were also convinced that the middle-order batsman, with a liking for shots and blessed with a potent punch in his follow through, could make a fine opener.
Uthappa was advised to discard his duties as wicket-keeper and focus solely on his batting.
Those who know him well describe him as a fun loving chap who loves his share of laughs and multi-tasking then was only increasing the furrow lines on his forehead. It was his 116 off 93 balls, in the opener's role he enjoys, in the Challenger Trophy against India A that put him in reckoning for a National call.
Venu, Uthappa's father speaks of how Robin felt that the world was passing him by when his mates - Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, VRV Singh and RP Singh - from the Junior World Cup squad of 2004 went ahead and made their India debuts, while he was still finding a foothold in first class cricket. But that was till Saturday.
National Junior Selection Committee chairman Praveen Amre was first impressed by Uthappa's shot-making capacity and ability to rotate the strike. "He was the kind of player we needed then," Amre says about how he first saw Uthappa in action at the selection matches played at the CCI for the Dhaka Junior World Cup. "Today showed that he can adapt to the needs of international cricket."
KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel, at whose academy, Uthappa made his first steps, remembers the nine-year-old as an overweight and talented boy who was asked to keep wickets first in a bid to lose a bit of flab.
Over the years, he has learnt to pull his weight.