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London, Sept 6: Robin Uthappa may not be a
permanent fixture in Team India's batting order but thanks to
his match-winning knock in the sixth ODI yesterday, he at least
has won a couple of admirers in rival captains Rahul Dravid and
Paul Collingwood. Uthappa played a blinder under pressure,
walking in when India needed 83 runs off 58 balls and went on to
hit two boundaries off the last over to snatch a sensational win
for India to level the series 3-3. Naturally, Dravid was all
praise for the youngster.
"We were struggling but Robin finished it off
for us. Any time you chase 300-plus is always going to be a test
but the young boy set up a brilliant victory for us," he said.
Uthappa was unbeaten after a 33-ball blitzkrieg of 47 and showed
nerves of steel even after the exit of India's last recognised
batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dravid said Uthappa deserved the
credit more because he was playing in an unfamiliar position.
"I've never seen Robin bat at seven before. He's got a good
cricketing brain. He's improving all the time and working very
hard in nets. Watching him he's begging to be picked.
"Credit to him because he might not have
batted at No. 7 in his life, but here he managed to control the
chase." Collingwood echoed Dravid's view on the player, who has
earned his stripe as a hard-hitting opener, and admitted it was
Uthappa's knock that took the match away from England. "He
played well in the pressure situation. He stayed calm and it's
good for India. He seems a cool customer, knew his areas to
score, and had a little bit of luck along the way," Collingwood
said. (Agencies)
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