Robin Uthappa retires from all cricket forms

India batter Robin Uthappa has retired from all forms of international and Indian cricket, including the IPL, to play overseas T20 leagues. Uthappa has obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Kerala, the last state he played for in domestic cricket, and will be allowed to take up overseas assignments as new T20 leagues come up in South Africa and the UAE early next year.

Uthappa made his international debut in 2006 and played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is, and was part of the team that lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa. He additionally won several domestic titles with Karnataka and won the IPL two times: with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 and with Chennai Super Kings in 2021.

A Successful Career

• Uthappa began his domestic career in 2002-03 with Karnataka and finished it with Kerala in the shortened 2020-21 season. 
• He also represented Saurashtra during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. 
• He played 142 first class matches, scoring 9446 runs with 22 centuries while averaging almost 41, and scored one more 6534 runs with 16 hundreds out of 203 one-day games to average 35.31. 
• In 291 T20 games, the remainder of which he played in the 2022 IPL for Super Kings, he scored 7272 runs while striking at 133.08.

He played every one of the 15 seasons of the IPL and represented as many as six teams in the competition: Super Kings, Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. He amassed 4952 runs in 205 IPL games, striking at 130.35 and averaging 27.51.

Uthappa was known for his aggressive batting, which earned him an international debut in 2006, yet he was dropped soon after the 2007 T20 World Cup due to poor form in 2008. The year prior to playing his last few matches for India in 2015, he accomplished a rare treble with Karnataka, who won the Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup and the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2013-14 season. He followed that with a stunning IPL for Knight Riders in 2014, finishing the season as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with a count of 660 runs while striking at 138.

ALSO READ: SC order permits term extension to Ganguly & Shah

He was rewarded with a return to the Indian side for tours through Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in 2014 and 2015 yet unassuming returns implied he was left out once more. In between, he led the run charts in the 2014-15 Ranji Prize season as Karnataka became the first domestic team to repeat their title-winning streak.

It has been my greatest honour to represent my country and my state, Karnataka. However, all good things must come to an end, and with a grateful heart, I have decided to retire from all forms of Indian cricket.

Thank you all ❤️ pic.twitter.com/GvWrIx2NRs

— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) September 14, 2022