Robin Uthappa: Time to go straight !

We witnessed some savage hitting of the Cricket ball by Robin Uthappa last night. Morkel, Balaji and Ashwin were brutalized by some really fabulous batting. It was exhilarating towards the end. But it was exasperating at the beginning. If you don't trust me, just look at the replays of the match on the Youtube uploads!


Here is a batsman capable of hitting the ball as hard and as well as any one in the business. He made his debut with the highest score for an Indian in ODIs. But after the T-20 World Cup, he gradually faded away from the scene. If we don't remember, it all started with his penchant for the 'Reverse Sweep'. Well, it was more of an obsession rather than penchant.

Playing for Mumbai Indians during the first edition of IPL in 2008, Uthappa started off pretty decently. But then his fancy for the reverse shot got the better of him. At one stage in a match, he tried to play the reverse shot of practically every ball! It was so frustrating to watch it. He was scoring runs at will, playing normal shots. Then he was trying that dreadful shot and was failing time and again. But he still persisted playing the same shot and in the process actually handed over the advantage to the opposition bowlers.

I have nothing against the 'Reverse Sweep' as such. Even Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have played this shot. But you need some kind of finesse in it. Sehwag plays it fairly well. Sachin, Dhoni and even Amit Mishra plays this shot. Many international players have employed this shot with varying degrees of success. But somehow, Uthappa has never looked like mastering the shot.

Last night he played this atrocious shot of Murali for a four at the beginning. Then he tried it again and was dropped by Ashwin. And he tried the same shot again of the very next ball and actually played straight to the point fielder. At this point, the camera showed the 'Wide Angle' of Anil Kumble clenching his jaws and barely managing to hide his exasperation. If Uthappa were to get out at that stage, Chennai would have walked away with the match.

It is high time Uthappa realizes and understand what are his strengths and his weaknesses. He can run like a sprinter between the wickets. Some of those ones and twos he shared with Virat Kohli were as breathtaking as his sixes of Balaji. He can clear the longest of the ropes with utmost ease when he plays straight. His drives on the offside look as smooth as the Mercedes on the highways! And then his 'Reverse sweep' looks as elegant as the broomstick used to sweep the toilets!

When the straight way in forward gear gives you success, why do you want to use the 'reverse' gear? You are more likely to bang somewhere and hurt yourself if you keep trying the reverse route. Hope Uthappa realizes this because he is a much better bet in Indian colors than the IPL's One Trick Pony Rohit Sharma.