Defending champions Chennai Super Kings retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction in Bengaluru in February as well. However, CSK successfully bought some of their old players while going into a fresh season of the Indian Premier League.
Along with buying the likes of young Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar and KS Asif, they bought experienced players like Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar and Ambati Rayudu, four players who were the pillars of CSK’s success. While Bravo, Rayudu and Chahar earned a decent price tag of ₹4.4 crore, 6.75 crore and 14 crore respectively, Uthappa was bought for a base price of ₹2 crore as well. The veteran batter has shared his first conversation with MS Dhoni after he returned to represent Chennai.
“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,” Robin Uthappa told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
After having played for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, Uthappa came to CSK in IPL 2021, where he played only four matches scoring 115 runs. This time when he returned to Chennai, MS Dhoni’s words gave him confidence and made him realise that he is also a key player in the franchise.
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“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 concluded.