Robin Uthappa was a pillar of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and played for a host of franchises including RCB, MI, KKR, and CSK to name a few. In a podcast recently, Uthappa revealed that he didn’t feel like he belonged to RCB and was forced to leave the MI franchise in IPL 2009.
Uthappa remarked that even after leaving the Mumbai Indians following the 2008 IPL season, his loyalty to the organization remained strong. It should be remembered that Robin Uthappa played for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL’s debut season in 2008.
However, he was released by Mumbai before the 2009 season and moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Bengaluru). He played with the RCB for two seasons, in 2009 and 2010, and made some significant contributions to the franchise.
Robin Uthappa reveals shocking details of his move from MI to RCB
In a podcast, Robin Uthappa discussed his move from the Mumbai Indians to the Royal Challengers Bangalore following the 2008 IPL season. Uthappa shockingly revealed that he never felt like he belonged to RCB.
Even after leaving the Mumbai Indians, the former India batter maintained his loyalty to the franchise. He went on to explain that the cricketers were experiencing such transfers for the first time, making it difficult for them to show their loyalty.
“I didn’t feel at any point that I belong to RCB. My loyalties all lied with Mumbai Indians. And for me, because that was the first time we Indians were playing professional cricket, we didn’t know what moving from club to club was, we didn’t know what transfers were outside of what we heard about the EPL,” Uthappa said on Faye D’Souza’s podcast.
Uthappa even claimed to have told the Mumbai Indians manager that he did not want to quit the team because he was dedicated to it. However, the manager did not guarantee him a position in the Playing XI, which caused Uthappa to reconsider his decision.
“We didn’t know individually what the players would experience. Because I found loyalty with Mumbai Indians and I didn’t want to leave the franchise. I said I’m sorry, I don’t want to leave sir. He said, if you don’t leave, I cannot guarantee you’ll play any match at all for Mumbai. And that’s when I felt like okay, they don’t want me at all,” he added.
Robin Uthappa had a solid season with the bat for the Mumbai Indians in the 2008 IPL. He scored 320 runs in 14 matches, with an average of 35.55 and a strike rate of 114.69. He scored the second most runs for Mumbai this season, trailing only Sanath Jayasuriya.
However, his performance suffered significantly in the second season when he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He scored only 175 runs in 15 matches, with an average of 15.90 and a strike rate of 102.94.
Robin Uthappa returned to RCB for one more season in 2010 and had a solid performance. He scored 374 runs in 16 matches, with an average of 31.16 and a fantastic strike rate of 171.55.
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