New Delhi: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings have been off to a poor start in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL). The team faced defeat in all their first three matches. CSK was able to retain its star players MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja and Rituraj Gaikwad ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. The biggest challenge in front of Chennai was to assemble a new team as strong as the old one. The franchise managed to bring in a lot of experienced and young players in the auction.
Acquiring a veteran like Robin Uthappa in the auction for his base price of INR 2 crore was like a steal for CSK. Robin has now opened up on his return to the 'yellow army'.
"MS called me after two days and said, 'See you, bro'. He said 'welcome to the team'. I said 'thank you for having faith in me'. He said 'I had nothing to do with this decision'. He said 'I didn't do anything because for two reasons. One is, for your own good. You should get into this side for your own credentials. Two is if I have anything to do with this decision, people will always think because you are my friend, I have picked you in the side. So, I had nothing to do with this decision," Uthappa told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
After playing with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, Uthappa was seen playing for CSK in IPL 2021, where he scored 115 runs in 4 matches.
"So when it came to me, I asked the support staff, coaching staff and the management. If they are fine with him, we are good to go. I don't want anything to do with this decision. For me, it made me feel really good in the sense that from every angle, there was complete indemnity. And for him as well. It gave me the confidence that the support staff had faith in me. For me, it was like 'ok, now I can go there and do my own stuff'. And immediately I felt attached to the team," he added.