IPL: Any total seems achievable in T20s, says Uthappa

Kolkata Knight Riders' batsman Robin Uthappa feels the dynamics of cricket are changing, such that any target seems achievable.

Published : Apr 19, 2018 09:54 IST , Jaipur

Robin Uthappa sends one to the fence enroute his 48 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.
Robin Uthappa sends one to the fence enroute his 48 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.
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Robin Uthappa sends one to the fence enroute his 48 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.

Kolkata Knight Riders' Robin Uthappa loves speaking his mind. The swashbuckling opener, who played a knock of 48 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday, talks about the change in the dynamics of cricket, among other things.

Excerpts:

In a format like T20, how challenging is it to chase a total?

The game has become so dynamic right now that anything seems achievable. I think cricket is changing as a sport, and it's happening right in front of our eyes. We've finished only 15-16 games in the tournament and about 215 sixes have already been hit. I think it's shifting to a power game.

READ: Dominant Knight Riders hands Royals a home drubbing

 All of us are watching and experiencing it happening and hence I believe that chasing is the choice of captains. I think a paradigm shift is happening as we are talking about cricket.

Going forward, what are KKR's strengths?

I think we have been playing some good cricket. We still have a few aspects that need to come together completely. Personally, I am happy that it hasn't come together yet. You want it to happen at the right time in a tournament like this. You don't want to peak too soon, you want to peak at the right time. At the same time, we understand that this tournament is two halves. The first half is qualifying and then you play a separate tournament.

I think initial goal is making sure we qualify for the playoffs and then take it from there. As of now, we are utilising our players really well. We've got just enough. Everyone thinks they are part of a family and it's a young side where everyone feels included. That helps in a tournament like this with the duration we have.

You have already played a few matches, can you afford to wait to peak?

Like I said, IPL is a tournament that has a lot to do with momentum. We are playing six games in twelve days now and then we have a little bit of a break and then it slows down for us. So we knew that the first half is going to be hectic. So for us, at the end of the first half, we wanted to give ourselves a good chance to be in the top four. And I think given where we are, we are happy with where are.

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We have created momentum for ourselves and we want to keep it on our side and not give it away. So every game for us is important at this point of time.

Is opening a concern for KKR?

The top three has remained the same. We changed it in one game and realised that we did not have to fix something that is not broken. That's why we have come back to what works well for us. It's going well for us. And these are the aspects that really need to come together.

Once we get Lynny and Sunny clicking and getting us off to good starts, we really put ourselves in a good position with me, Nitish, Dinesh and Andre coming in. It puts the team in a very strong place.

How is it different with Dinesh Karthik replacing Gautam Gambhir as captain?

They are very different personalities. DK is someone who thinks a lot, likes a lot of information. At the same time, he leaves enough room for instinct as a captain to be proactive and make decisions, which is wonderful. Gauti is a more instinctive captain. He's naturally been proactive as a captain. Both are very different captains, very different personalities but have the most important characteristics as required by a captain in this format.

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