"Altered my technique to suit Test cricket and lost aggression" - Robin Uthappa 

Uthappa aspired to play Test cricket for India and made a few tweaks to his technique.

Robin Uthappa | GettyRobin Uthappa was so desperate to play Test cricket for India that he decided to make a few technical changes to his batting while he was still striving to cement his position in the white-ball set-up. In hindsight, however, the Karnataka right-hander rues losing some of his natural aggression in that process. 

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"My biggest goal was to play Test cricket for India. Had I pursued that at 20-21, I probably by this time would've played Test cricket. I wanted to have no regrets at the end of my career and wanted to be sure that I brought the best out of me," said Uthappa, who most recently played for India in 2015 in Zimbabwe, during a podcast session with his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR). 

Well known for some of his brisk knocks during the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa and the tour of England that preceded in 2007, Uthappa hired former India batsman Pravin Amre as his personal coach and tweaked his overall technique. 

"Hence at 25, I decided to overhaul my batting technique under Pravin Amre and became a more technically better batsman who could be there for long and bat for long hours and be more consistent, which made me let go of some of my batting aggression in the process," he said. 

Technical changes are best made early in life so they become your second nature as a batsman. 

"I thought to play Test cricket for India, I needed to alter my technique. In hindsight, I may have pursued the goal at the wrong time at 25 years of age," added Uthappa, who has featured for India in 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is. 

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 20 May, 2020

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