Aday after the 8 IPL teams retained and released players for the upcoming edition, 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals traded their opener Robin Uthappa in an all-cash deal.
Uthappa was picked up by the Royals at the IPL auction for the 2020 season and played 12 games for the franchise. The 35-year-old right-hander from Karnataka had scored just 196 runs in the last IPL in UAE.
The franchise said the trade was done as they have several openers in their squad already.
“We’d like to thank Robbie for his contribution during his time with us.
We do have depth with regards to openers in our squad, therefore when the offer came from CSK, we thought it was a good opportunity for all parties involved. We’d like to wish Robbie all the best for this season at CSK and his future beyond that,” Rajasthan Royals’ COO, Jake Lush McCrum said in a release.
CSK will be Uthappa’s sixth IPL outfit having earlier turned out for Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore and RR. He has so far played 189 IPL matches scoring 4607 runs at an average of 27.92 including 24 half-centuries.
Speaking on his move, Uthappa said, “I really enjoyed my year at the Royals and had a great time being part of this franchise. I am now excited for the next part of my cricketing journey joining CSK for IPL 2021.”
Uthappa most-recently featured in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, where he made 161 runs in five innings for Kerala, including a match-winning 54-ball 91 that helped them pull off an incredible chase of 213 against Delhi last week.
Uthappa has played in every edition of the IPL since the tournament’s inception and has scored 4607 runs from 189 games at a strike rate of 129.99.
MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were in need of an opener after Shane Watson announced his announcement from franchise cricket in November last year.
The new development can see Robin Uthappa open the innings for Chennai Super Kings with young Ruturaj Gaikwad.