JOIN USRobin Uthappa emerged the highest run-getter in the country this Ranji season with 912 runs at 50.66 with two hundreds and five fifties. But that hardly makes for news. Uthappa has always been expected to score runs on his each visit to the crease. This season there was this unmistakable calmness about him, determined to make every outing count.
Uthappa spoke about the new angles of his batting and his role in the Karnataka dressing room in an interaction.
The highest run-getter of the season, your thoughts on a successful season?
It’s been good, But for me, I had set up a goal for myself of which I’ve fallen a few hundred runs short. I think I let myself down in a few innings. I got four zeroes this season and that kind of proved costly. But I’ve performed at a time when the team needed it and they have been important performances, so I’m happy. I am pretty happy to be the leading run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy. It’s something that was definitely a goal that I can strike off.
Now, do you feel settled as batsman after a few experiments last season?
Absolutely. I brought (Pravin) Amre sir three years ago, but now the batting is definitely settled. And that’s why I’m able to focus on wicketkeeping and put my energies in different areas and aspects of my game. I feel pretty confident about my batting and I just think it’s going from strength to strength. I just need to keep working, with my game and my skills. The focus has been to improve on aspects that are finer and I’ve been working on them. I think my work ethic has really improved over the last couple of years. I work pretty hard with my batting and my skills, and I spend a lot of time batting. Now, I put a value on my wicket.
Have you made an effort to understand the science of your batting?
It’s been a conscious decision to understand what I do when I bat. I want to understand what the method is to my madness. I think I’ve done that and I’ve figured out what my method is. I’ve spent time understanding that science. If I’ve made a mistake I know exactly where I’ve made a mistake. Sometimes I don’t even need to look at a video to understand what I’ve done wrong. You learn as you pay attention.
Is it good to analyse that deep or be more instinctive for someone who is a strokemaker?
See, I don’t over-analyse my innings. But I try to understand what went wrong and what I need to improve. If you want to remain consistent, you need to understand your batting and I think that’s what I’ve done. I’ve been pretty flexible. When it comes to T20s I play a lot of shots, when it comes to one-day cricket I monitor the way I go about the innings and I think I’ve kind of cracked how I want to approach four-day cricket.
So, how do you feel being part of two successive Ranji Trophy triumphs?
Last year was special because we won it after years. There was a little more pushing needed. This year, we were a lot more sure of our abilities and a lot more confident about winning. We knew we wanted to defend it and prove to ourselves and the other non-believers that it wasn’t just a one-off victory. So, I think we’ve got that stuff now. This bunch of boys, we have it in us to win domestic tournaments for a good five-seven years.
What is the guiding force behind this team’s success?
This team is like a family. We have each others’ backs. You will have 16-17 guys after your life if you say one thing to us. I think you got an example of that in the league match against Mumbai. When Siddhesh (Lad) threw the ball on C M Gautam, we had 15 of us standing there and said: ‘you just come in and bat, we’re going to eat you up.’ That’s the kind of unity we have in our side. We care for our unit. We’ll protect it no matter what. Staying together is what makes this team really successful.