Picture Credit: IPL
Robin Uthappa has become a vital cog in CSK's batting lineup since he joined the franchise back in 2021. He played two supreme knocks to help his team win the fourth title in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Considering his contributions to CSK's title win, the management went for Uthappa in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction and got him back. And now, the veteran batter is once again doing the asked job without any complaint.
But who was the man behind his transfer to CSK? While many speculated, as has been the case in the CSK camp, it was the former Chennai captain, MS Dhoni, behind the move, Uthappa has brushed away the speculations. The 36-year-old has finally revealed the name of the CSK player who played a crucial role in his transfer to the Yellow Army.
While talking to Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel, Uthappa revealed that Ambati Rayudu was the man who came up with this idea and pushed Uthappa to talk to CSK management during a Syed Mushtaq Ali match. "Kerala had a Syed Mushtaq game against Andhra in Bombay. Amba [Rayudu] was leading the Andhra side. Rayudu asked, 'what's happening with you'. He was like, 'Bro, I'll do one thing. I will give you Kasi Sir's [CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan] number. You call Kasi sir. We want a player like you in our team. Why don't you give him a call?'"
I know the transfer would happen: Uthappa
The cricketer further talked about how he approached CSK CEO and asked him for a favour. Uthappa said "From RR I got to know that the conversations had begun, and we will see where it goes and then Kasi sir called me after two days. I was leaving Bombay. He said, 'Rob the deal is done. You're gonna be coming to us. MS said that he doesn't have anything to do with the decision. The support staff believes that you'll be a great value to our team'."
Notably, Uthappa has amassed 101 runs in three games for CSK in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League so far. He also hit a blistering half-century against Lucknow Super Giants.