Keeper's role may give Uthappa edge

KOLKATA: It was surprising to see Robin Uthappa keeping wickets for Royal Challengers against Team Rajasthan even as the Bangalore team boasts of three specialists wicketkeepers in Mark Boucher, Bharat Chipli and Shreevats Goswami.
The logic of putting Uthappa behind the stumps (he used to keep wickets for Karnataka U-19s) was to restore the balance of the side.
It also allowed the team to play an extra batsman. Playing Boucher would have meant that Ross Taylor would have had to sit it out. Chipli and Goswami were ignored because they are simply not good enough batsmen, especially in South African conditions.
"Its a smart thinking on his part to keep wickets. I don���t know whether it will work for him in the long run but no harm in giving it a try as he cant make it purely as an opener with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir settled as a opening pair,��� a national selector told TOI.
However, there seems to be another angle to Uthappa���s double-role purely from Team India���s point of view. With the World T20 Championship round the corner, the dashing Karnataka batsman, who is no longer an automatic choice in the Indian line-up, is eyeing the second wicketkeepers slot as MS Dhoni���s side will defend its crown in England.
If he does a decent job behind the stumps besides scoring some swashbuckling knocks, Uthappa stands a good chance of piping the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Prathiv Patel and Wriddhiman Saha for the second wicketkeeper���s slot.
A look at the 30 probables for T20 WC will tell you how it can just turn out to be a win-win situation for Uthappa who had played an important role in India���s triumph in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. Besides skipper Dhoni, the team list have Madhya Pradesh���s Naman Ojha, Tamil Nadu���s Karthik and Saha.