Rank turners like Chepauk wicket not conducive for T20 cricket, says Robin Uthappa

The first match of this edition of the Indian Premier League was a face-off between MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore and fans were expecting a mouth-watering contest. However, what turned out was a dampener as RCB could only manage 70 on a turning wicket at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai where CSK’s spinners Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja wreaked havoc. The CSK batsmen also worked hard for each run thereby taking almost 18 overs to chase down the small target.

Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Robin Uthappa, who played an anchor's role to perfection as he scored 67 not out of 50 balls against Kings XI Punjab, is of the opinion that such wickets are not evenly balanced.

“It’s not conducive for viewership, T20 cricket is made for entertainment. It’s competitive but you have to have a wider perspective of what’s happening as well. You want it to be evenly balanced. Slow wicket is fine but rank turners, like Chennai are not conducive for T20 cricket, doesn’t serve the purpose,” said Robin Uthappa, reported PTI.

In the first innings of RCB, all but one batsman were wrapped up for single-digit scores. Uthappa also said that T20 cricket is a game for the batsmen and people come out to watch sixes and fours being hit.

“Hopefully, the wickets are conducive for Twenty20 cricket. It’s batsman’s game. It’s what it is. People come out there to watch batsmen hit sixes and bowlers defy that on good wickets. T20 and cricket in generalis moving in that direction,” added the 33-year-old.

The track at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi also has a reputation of being a slow wicket and was even infamously banned by ICC for 12 months at a point of time. This is where KKR will face Delhi Capitals today.

“The away wins are extremely important in this tournament. Delhi is a strong team at home. The wicket looks different. It’s not a regular Kotla wicket,” said the former T20 World Cup winner

Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell has been excellent for KKR in the two matches until now. He has smashed an unbeaten 49 off just 19 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad, then followed it up with 48 off 17 balls in the next match against Kings XI Punjab, add to that, his performance with the ball where he scalped two wickets each in both the matches. 

“He (Russell) knows what impact he creates. He understands what role he plays in making it from 180 to 215. Since he led at Caribbean Premier League, so there is a sense of responsibility as well,” Uthappa signed off.