Top 3 moments from Robin Uthappa's international career

Veteran Indian batter Robin Uthappa has announced his retirement from all forms of the game. He has also received a no-objection Certificate (NOC) from Kerala, the state he last played for in domestic cricket, to look at assignments in T20 leagues overseas.

Uthappa made a name for himself as a sparkling talent back in India's 2004 Under-19 World Cup team. He went on to make his international debut in 2006 against England. In his career, he featured in 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is. He was also part of the side that won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa. He was a prolific run scorer in the IPL and has won the title twice - with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 and then with the Chennai Super Kings in 2021.

Here, we take a look at three of the most memorable moments from Robin Uthappa's international career:

#3 A sparkling 86 on ODI debut

Robin Uthappa started his international career with a bang

India were taking on England at Indore in the 7th ODI. England posted 288 runs and the chase was always going to be tough as they were without Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, Robin Uthappa, making his debut, never showed any signs of nervousness as his sizzling strokeplay pushed England on the backfoot.

Uthappa was very dominant on the front foot even when the ball was short of a good length. He then hit the highest score by an Indian on debut (86). India finished the series on an emphatic note and sealed the series 5-1.

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#2 Knocking over the stumps

Robin Uthappa was the star with the ball

Back in 2007, bowl outs were used to determine the winner of a tied T20 game as opposed to the now prevalent super over. In the inaugural T20 World Cup, India took on Pakistan in a league match and the game needed to be decided in a bowl out. Five designated players were asked to bowl one ball at unguarded stumps.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss, elected to bowl first and restricted India to 141/9. Robin Uthappa was the top scorer with a knock of 50.

In response, Misbah Ul Haq led Pakistan's charge and his knock of 53 took Pakistan close to the target, but the match was tied.

Robin Uthappa was surprisingly one of Dhoni's five picks, but he ambled up and knocked over the stumps.

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#1 Sealing a tense chase at the Oval

Uthappa kept his cool in the end overs

Despite being an opener, the Indian team used Robin Uthappa in the middle order a lot and one of his finest moments came against England at the Oval. India were set a stiff target of 317 by England, and their chase was led by a superb knock of 94 from Sachin Tendulkar.

However, the match went down to the wire and it took an icy-cool unbeaten 47 from Uthappa. His lap strokes and thunderous drives down the ground saw India chase down 317 with two balls to spare.