Durban [South Africa], January 9 : Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa, currently in South Africa for commentating season four of SA20, reminisced on memories he created in the rainbow nation during the title-winning 2007 ICC T20 World Cup campaign, especially his knock and the 'bowl out' against Pakistan in the group stage.
Uthappa was speaking to the media in Durban on the sidelines of SA20, the same place where the India-Pakistan group-stage clash at the T20 WC took place in 2007. During that match, Robin top-scored for India with a brilliant 39-ball fifty, taking India to 141/9. After the match ended in a tie, a 'bowl out' was held to decide the winner, where the players were supposed to bowl and hit at stumps without any batters occupying the crease. Uthappa had also featured in the bowl out, successfully hitting the stumps and celebrating it by bowing down to the crowd while moving around in a circular way.
Speaking to the reporters about the memories from that tournament, Uthappa said, "Durban brings back a lot of memories. I go back to 2007 all the time. Every time I come here, I look at that dressing room on the other side, and I just think of all the wonderful things that we created here, the wonderful memories we created here. It was a special time."
Talking about the bowl-out against Pakistan, he said that before the SA20 clash scheduled for Thursday, he had looked at the pitch before the pitch report and was reminiscing about that iconic 'bowl out', a short-lived concept now replaced by a Super Over, and pointed out how prepared Team India was for it.
"Well, obviously, I was on the pitch today just having a look before the pitch report and obviously reminiscing about the time when I actually bowled there (bowl out against Pakistan). It was certainly a lot of fun. We did a lot of preparation for it, which we do not really talk about. But I think we were better prepared than the opposition team on that night," he added.
During the T20 WC, he scored 113 runs in six innings at an average of 18.83 and a strike rate of 113, including this fifty against Pakistan. India won the tournament by beating Pakistan in the finals in a nail-biter. Uthappa played 13 T20Is for India, scoring 249 runs in 12 innings at an average of 24.90, with a strike rate of 118.00 and a fifty. In his short career for India from 2006-15, he featured in 46 ODIs as well, scoring 934 runs in 46 matches and 42 innings at an average of 25.94, a strike rate of over 90 with six fifties and a best score of 86.
Despite not getting enough chances with India, he carved out an identity for himself as a great IPL player, scoring 4,952 runs in 205 matches at an average of 27.51, a strike rate of 130 and 27 fifties, with a best score of 88. He won an IPL title each with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), scoring 660 runs in 16 matches with five fifties in KKR's title-winning season, earning him the 'Orange Cap'.