‘I had nothing to do with this decision' - Robin Uthappa reveals what MS Dhoni told him after mega auction

Chennai Super Kings opener Robin Uthappa revealed what MS Dhoni told him after the team bagged him at the mega auction this year. Uthappa was traded by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2021, and his game changed completely when he got into the yellow jersey. Impressed by his performance last year, the team decided to buy him back at the auction and he was picked at his base price of INR 2 crore.

CSK’s squad this year has a mixed batch of players as there are both young and experienced batters. Meanwhile, Uthappa has also been close to Dhoni and the two have played for India together as well. He spoke about the first talk he had with Dhoni after the team picked him this year.

‘You should get into this side for your own credentials’ – MS Dhoni’s word to Robin Uthappa

“MS called me after two days and said, ‘See you, bro’. He said ‘welcome to the team’. I said ‘thank you for having faith in me’. He said ‘I had nothing to do with this decision’. He said ‘I didn’t do anything because for two reasons. One is, for your own good. You should get into this side for your own credentials. Two is if I have anything to do with this decision, people will always think because you are my friend, I have picked you in the side. So, I had nothing to do with this decision,” Uthappa told Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

Uthappa was with CSK for the whole season last year, but managed to make it into the playing XI just four times, in which he scored 115 runs, which helped him gain the team’s confidence to get him back into the side for the next year. And he was successful in doing so. He opens for the team in the IPL 2022 and has played some good knocks so far.

“So when it came to me, I asked the support staff, coaching staff and the management. If they are fine with him, we are good to go. I don’t want anything to do with this decision. For me, it made me feel really good in the sense that from every angle, there was complete indemnity. And for him as well. It gave me the confidence that the support staff had faith in me. For me, it was like ‘ok, now I can go there and do my own stuff’. And immediately I felt attached to the team,” he concluded.