Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has recently made a stunning revelation in which he claimed that he didn’t feel like he belonged to RCB even when he was part of the team from the 2009 season of the Indian Premier League.
Instead, Uthappa claimed that his loyalties were still there for Mumbai Indians even after leaving the franchise after the 2008 season of IPL. It is to be noted that Robin Uthappa played for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008, the inaugural edition of the tournament.
However, he was released by Mumbai before the 2009 season and was transferred to Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Bengaluru). He played for RCB for two seasons in 2009 and 2010 and played some key knocks for the franchise as well.
Also read: Jasprit Bumrah’s India captaincy blocked amidst Rohit Sharma slump in Australia
Robin Uthappa makes a shocking revelation about his transfer from MI to RCB
While speaking to the journalist Faye D’Souza on a podcast, Robin Uthappa opened up about his transfer from Mumbai Indians to Royal Challengers Bangalore after IPL 2008. Uthappa made a shocking revelation that he didn’t feel like he belonged to RCB at any point.
The former India batter always felt that his loyalties were with Mumbai Indians even after leaving the franchise. He further reasoned it by saying that the cricketers experienced such transfers for the first time which made it difficult for them to showcase their loyalties.
“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 the podcast.
” I don’t want to leave” – Robin Uthappa to Mumbai Indians management
Uthappa even claimed to be saying to the manager of Mumbai Indians that he didn’t want to leave the franchise as he was loyal to it. However, the manager didn’t guarantee him a place in the Playing XI which made Uthappa rethink 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,” Uthappa remembered.
“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’s numbers for MI and RCB
Robin Uthappa had a good season with the bat for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008. He scored 320 runs in 14 matches at an average of 35.55 and a strike rate of 114.69. He was the second-highest run-getter for Mumbai in the season after Sanath Jayasuriya.
However, his performances went down considerably in the second season when he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He scored just 175 runs in 15 matches at an average of 15.90 and a strike rate of 102.94. In the final of the tournament, he remained unbeaten till the end but RCB fell just six runs short of the target to face a heartbreaking defeat.
Robin Uthappa played one more season for RCB in 2010 and had a fairly good run this time. He scored 374 runs in 16 matches at an average of 31.16 and a brilliant strike rate of 171.55. He also emerged as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s second-highest run-scorer of the season after Jacques Kallis.