Robin Uthappa

After Dhoni got out in the 47th over with the Indian score at 294, Uthappa kept a cool head to take India to the target with two balls to spare in a remarkable victory.

Robin Venu Uthappa (born 11 November 1985) is a former Indian cricketer, who last played for Kerala in domestic cricket & Chennai Super Kings in IPL.

He has represented team India in ODIs and T20Is.

Uthappa first came to the public's attention when he made 66 for India B against India A in the Challenger Trophy in 2005.

The following year, in the same tournament, Uthappa made match-winning 93-ball 100 against the same team which propelled him in the big league.

Previously, he had been a member of the India Under-19 team that won the Asia Cup.

Once a wicket-keeper batsman, his List A batting average of near 40 with a strike rate of approximately 90 has made him regarded as something of a limited overs cricket specialist.

Uthappa made his One Day International debut in the seventh and final match of the English tour of India in April 2006.

He had a successful debut, making 86 as an opening batsman before being dismissed run out.

It was the highest score for an Indian debutant in a limited-overs match.

He is nicknamed 'The Walking Assassin' for his tactic of charging down towards the bowler.

He played an important role in India's win at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.

He was recalled to the ODI side in January 2007 for the series against the West Indies.

He did not feature in the first two games.

He scored a quick 70 in the third game followed by a quickfire 28 in the fourth game.

He was selected in the 15-member squad of the Indian team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies in March–April 2007.

He played in all three group games, but only scored 30 runs in total as India suffered a shock defeat to Bangladesh and a loss to Sri Lanka resulting in the team not qualifying for the Super 8 stage.

In the sixth ODI of the NatWest Series 2007–2008, he scored 47 off 33 balls to take India to a thrilling victory, keeping Indian hopes alive in the 7- match series which they were trailing 2–3 before the match.

Used to batting as an opener, in this match he came in at the unfamiliar position of no 7.

When he came at the crease India were 5 down for 234 after 40.2 overs, still needing 83 from less than 10 overs.

Uthappa also scored a crucial 50 against Pakistan in the 20–20 World Cup in South Africa in the year 2007, when India were tottering at 39/4.

With this, he became the first Indian to score a 50 in a T20 International match.

India subsequently won the match in bowl out 3–0, where he bowled one of the three deliveries that hit the stumps.

Uthappa played for the Mumbai Indians in the 2008 Indian Premier League and had a fairly successful opening season.

In his first match he scored 48 runs from 38 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In the next game, against Chennai Super Kings, he made 43 (36) including 6 fours and a six.

Against Kolkata Knight Riders, he stitched an unbeaten 123-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo, where he scored a run-a-ball 37 to steer Mumbai to an easy win.

Then he scored 34 off just 21 deliveries to lead Mumbai to an emphatic victory over the in-form Rajasthan Royals.

However, a quickfire 23-ball 46 from Uthappa went in vain after Delhi Daredevils clinched a 5-wicket win in a nail-biting finish.

In January 2009, he was swapped with Zaheer Khan and moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

He had a disappointing 2009 season of IPL for the Royal Challengers.

After his impressive performance in the seventh season of IPL, he was selected to captain the India A team for its tour of Australia in July 2013.

He finished the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy season as the highest run scorer that season and was also the highest run-scorer that year in the IPL.

He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 14 September 2022.

Uthappa was born in Kodagu in Karnataka, India.

He received his education at Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College which comes under the umbrella of Jain University, Bangalore.

In November 2014, Uthappa was included into the Indian One Day International squad for the last two matches against Sri Lanka.

He was included in the 30 men Indian squad for 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Robin Uthappa was also included in team India which toured Zimbabwe in 2015

In June 2019, Uthappa moved from Saurashtra, joining Kerala, ahead of the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy season.