Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has reacted to the criticism he has received for condemning Chennai Super Kings’ move of letting New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra practice at their academy ahead of the side’s recently concluded Test series in India. Ravindra emerged as the highest scorer for New Zealand in the Test series as the visitors registered a historic 3-0 whitewash over India. Ravindra was part of the CSK squad in IPL 2024 and the franchise allowed him to practice at their academy in order to get acclimatised to the Indian conditions. Uthappa was highly critical of CSK’s decision and said that when the country’s interest in at stake, a line should be drawn by the teams.
“Rachin Ravindra came here and practised at the CSK Academy. CSK is a beautiful franchise that will always look after its franchise players but a line has to be drawn where the interest of the country comes ahead of your franchise players, especially when he is a foreign player and comes and plays against our country,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.
“I am not surprised that CSK always go over and above for their players but somewhere in that kindness, maybe I am not saying the right thing, I absolutely love CSK, but when it comes to the country, there should be a line somewhere where we do not cross that line,” he added.
But there are some who didn’t agree with Uthappa.
“I am glad we can have an exchange of ideas even while disagreeing. Do you guys want to discuss this further over a Live session? Let me know in the comments.”
Yesterday, I posted a video where I shared my thoughts about Rachin Ravindra training at the Super Kings Academy ahead of the Tests in India. A lot of you seemed to disagree, which is absolutely fine!
I am glad we can have an exchange of ideas even while disagreeing. Do you… pic.twitter.com/QxWiMhVGxb
— Robbie Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) November 7, 2024
Many of the fans didn’t agree with the opinion of Uthappa, while other criticised him for his stance. Reacting to the comments, the ex-India star said, “Yesterday, I posted a video where I shared my thoughts about Rachin Ravindra training at the Super Kings Academy ahead of the Tests in India. A lot of you seemed to disagree, which is absolutely fine!
