JOIN USRobin Uthappa has been a prolific scorer this IPL and the batsman attributed his success to certain technical adjustments to his batting.
“I have just been focussing on holding a good shape in the first six overs because the ball does a bit,” said the right-hander, after bagging his second man of the match award in three matches here on Tuesday.
“I understood that... hold a good shape and get behind the line of the ball. I look to put (the ball) in the gaps and have the chance to get the team off to good starts. So the focus has been pretty simple.
“In T20 cricket, sometimes, because you want to hit the ball very hard, you tend to grab your right hand a bit, tend to square up a bit. I try to make sure I remain side-on as much as possible and hit the ball a little late. The intent is to do that so if I can go out there and do that ten out of ten times I will be able to hit the gaps at least seven or eight times,” he explained.
The Karnataka batsman felt it was important to stay in control of the match.
“CSK have a formidable bowling attack, so if you give them an inch they will take a mile. We were trying to make sure that we were in control of things right through. There were passages of play where we didn’t try anything risky. We kept it tight. We made sure that we had their important bowlers bowl as many overs up front because we have good ability to chase anything down in the last few overs. So that was a good sign for us.When the main bowlers came on in the first ten overs, we knew that we were putting pressure on them. That was the important thing.”
The opener dedicated his man of the match award to one of his close friends’ pet (dog) Muffin! “She (Muffin) is a very close friend’s pet and I promised my friend that the next time I get the MoM, I would dedicate it to her. She is very, very special.”