Should Robin Uthappa be considered for India's limited-overs squad?
The Indian Premier League (IPL), with all of its opportunities for young Indian cricketers to make it to the next level, also comes as an opportunity for the established ones to regain their lost places in the squads.
Over the years, several cricketers such as Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohit Sharma etc. have earned their Team India call-ups through impressive IPL performances.
Also, several veteran cricketers too have used the league as a perfect platform to showcase their skills and show to the selectors that they deserve to be called back into the Indian Cricket Team.
However, the former has been the case in the majority, as for some strange reason, cricketers in India, after a certain age cap, are deemed unfit to play any further for the country, and despite their impressive performances season after season, are comfortably ignored from the national spectrum.
For the plethora of youngsters who have played for India on the back of their IPL performances, we have veterans whom we can count on our fingers, who made a comeback through the league.
Hence, the IPL, by default has become the tournament for fresh blood to be injected into the veins of the team, and the canny old men are increasingly finding it difficult to break into the side.
IPL: An opportunity for veterans too
Three men, who broke this trend over the past couple of years were Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, and Ashish Nehra. Gambhir was called up for India’s tour of England in 2014 as a reserve opener for Tests, Harbhajan was called up, first into the Test set up for the tour of Sri Lanka in 2015, and then for the limited-overs series against South Africa the same year.
However, these two comebacks were far from being impressive as Gambhir failed to score runs in England in what was India’s second successive diabolical tour of England, and Harbhajan was economical, but far from being penetrating in the games against South Africa.
Only Ashish Nehra, who had tremendous stints with the now suspended Chennai Super Kings did justice to his team India call-up by excelling in the T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup T20, and the World T20, as he was, by far, India’s best bowler in all of these tournaments.
While these stories do not inspire much confidence, but what has to be remembered is the fact that these selections were makeshift ones rather than a reward for their performance.
Gambhir was picked into the Test squad presumably based on his T20 performance while Harbhajan was picked only because there weren’t many promising spinners on the horizon in the domestic circuit.
Nehra was brought back because, in the wake of Zaheer Khan’s retirement and Mohammad Shami’s injury, India needed an experienced fast bowler in their midst to provide some balance to their fast-bowling attack.
Having said that, it must also be known that these results in no way mean that the veterans do not deserve to be given a second chance, as is evident by Gambhir’s exploits in this IPL that is already making people talk about his probable inclusion into India’s limited-overs squads.
Robin Uthappa: A revelation in shorter formats
So has Robin Uthappa, who, despite having two good IPL seasons was considered only for India’s second-string side that went to Zimbabwe and for the series against Sri Lanka, who then, were marred by injuries and had sent a second-string side themselves to India in that Rohit Sharma series in 2014.
Uthappa’s 934 ODI runs from 46 matches are to be questioned, but not because of why the runs are so few, but because of the fact that he played just 94 games for India, having made his debut in 2006, after one looks at his IPL performances and the domestic limited-overs exploits.
The Karnataka batsman’s average has never gone below 25 in all of the IPL seasons, except in 2009, when the league was held in South Africa.
He has averaged 44.00 and 30.33 in the last two seasons having scored runs at a strike-rate of 137 and 131 respectively, as has played a detrimental role in KKR’s success including their title-clinching stint in 2014.
The scores of 53, 38, and 35 this season mean that Uthappa’s golden run in T20 cricket has continued and he is on his way to another good IPL season.
But, to what end would these performances be if he is consistently overlooked when it comes to selecting the national team? Compared to the long ropes given to some of the other cricketers, the opportunities handed over to the 30-year-old have been minimal.
Hence, the flamboyant Karnataka batsman, who has been knocking on the doors of the Indian Cricket Team for many years now, should be given enough opportunities to prove his mettle in then limited-overs format and cement his place in the Indian side.
Having already played international cricket for several years, Uthappa could be the experience that the Indian middle order needs, especially in ODIs, something that was exposed in the ODI series against Australia in January this year.
Where in the batting order should he bat?
Selecting a player into the side is one thing and fitting him into the batting order is something different. Many talented cricketers miss out on their National Team call-up due to this reason, as no slots are available at the batting positions that they generally occupy.
It is definitely not the case for Uthappa, as apart from being an opening batsman for KKR, he has also been a middle-order batsman and a finisher for Indian in the past.
Uthappa has, in the days gone by, shown adequate adaptability and has batted at No. 5, 6, and 7 for the side, and it is in those positions that the team needs him at the moment, because the middle order, in the absence of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, has looked fragile, as Gurkeerat Mann, Ambati Rayudu, and to some extent, even Ajinkya Rahane have been in and out of the side as far as the ODIs are concerned over the past couple of years.
Keeping the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in mind, India should start working on a settled side from now on and Uthappa, if given sufficient international practice, could be a vital part of the team.
If MS Dhoni decides to promote himself to his preferred No. 4 spot, then any of the middle order spots, i.e. 5, 6, or 7 are readily available.
Assuming that Manish Pandey’s match-winning performance in Sydney in January this year earn him his well-deserved retention the next time India plays an ODI, and he occupies the No. 5 position, Uthappa could bat at 6.
His experience in the international circuit, as well as years of competitive cricket, would help him consolidate the innings if the team loses too many wickets, as well as up the ante as and when the need arises, something that the lower-middle order hasn’t been able to do of late.
Uthappa has waited too long to be given his share of chances in then Indian ODI side, and he must be preserved and taken care of before he too fizzles out to oblivion like several other promising cricketers have.
With the constant influx of youngsters such as Pandey, Mann et al, experience has gone begging in the middle order, and with Raina out of the team, someone like Uthappa could be the cog that the team needs to give balance to a side that has been heavily dependent on the top three.