India’s second-string squad that takes on Zimbabwe in a three-match one-day series beginning Friday in Harare is without a specialist wicketkeeper but part-timer and top-order batsman Robin Uthappa believes he can do the job.
– The Ashes: A statistical review of cricket’s greatest rivalry
– #360debate: Who will claim 2015 Ashes glory?
– The Ashes: Five stars with an ambition for excellence
Uthappa, along with middle-order batsmen Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu are the makeshift wicketkeepers in the 14-member squad for the short limited-overs tour with captain Ajinkya Rahane indicating a final call on the gloveman will be taken before the first match.
Uthappa, 29, and Jadhav, 30, have regularly done wicketkeeping duties for Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils in the IPL while Rayudu has occassionally donned the gloves for Mumbai Indians.
Uthappa, who had trained for two weeks in Mumbai honing his wicketkeeping skills ahead of the tour is so confident of landing the job that he is not entertaining any discussion on who will keep.
He said: “I am not waiting for anyone to indicate it to me. I am just taking it up, putting my hand up and saying I am doing it. Keeping gives me the information that I am seeking when I go out to bat. All the information that I would probably take five or seven overs to get, I get in two overs.”
