CRICKETER ROBIN UTHAPPA SAYS HE RELOCATED TO DUBAI DUE TO SAFETY ISSUES AND CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

By P.T. Bopanna

Bangalore boy Robin Uthappa, who has been described as the ‘Walking Assassin’ for his style of batting, shifted to Dubai over a year ago with his family.

Robin, son of Aiyudda Venu Uthappa, famous hockey player from Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka, has been quoted as saying that he relocated to Dubai mainly because of his children’s education and safety issues. Robin’s wife Sheethal Goutham is a former international tennis player.

He told a Dubai daily: “It was more from the kids’ perspective. We wanted a really solid primary education and knowing how good Dubai is as far as education is concerned and also the safety, not just for kids, but also for women. That was a big priority for us because I am on the road seven, or eight months in a year, so it became a no-brainer. Also, since I am playing leagues outside of India, it makes more sense to live here”.

Robin, a former Indian cricketer, last played for Kerala in domestic cricket and Chennai Super Kings in IPL. He was selected ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ in a poll conducted by www.coorgtoursiminfo.com portal in 2007.

He is most closely associated with the popular IPL series where he played his first season for Mumbai Indians in 2008. The next year he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore and then went on to play with Pune Warriors India.

He however came into his own in 2014 when he opened the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders and evolved into one of their star batsmen.

ODI PERFORMANCE

Robin started his one-day match career against England in Indore in 2006, he scored a respectable 86 before he was run out. In the 2007-08 NatWest series he played in the sixth match and helped India win with his 47 runs of 33 balls. In 2014 he was in the team that played the last two matches against Sri Lanka. And he was a member of the team that toured Zimbabwe in 2015.

Source: Coorg Role Models by P.T. Bopanna, Rolling Stone Publications, 2021. Paperback copy of the book is available on Amazon. Follow the link below: