Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa has expressed support for the Beyond Reach Premier League (BRPL) as it continues to develop tennis-ball cricket within a formal framework. Reflecting on his own journey, Uthappa said the format played a foundational role in shaping his batting abilities.
Recalling his childhood, Uthappa described tennis-ball cricket as more than a casual game. “I’ve played different forms of tennis-ball cricket. We’ve played leg cricket, hand cricket, and cricket in small 30-40 yard spaces,” he said during a discussion with Sushil Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of BRPL.
Uthappa explained that the playing environment influenced his style: “We had a road on the off side, a road on the leg side, and houses in front and behind. You could score only on the roads, and if you wanted to hit a four or six, you had to clear the house in front, which even had a window pane.”
This, he added, shaped his batting strengths. “By virtue of playing there, my game developed in that fashion. I like playing down the ‘V’, hitting straight over the top. My attacking shots are always straight, trying to put your foot in long-off and long-on. That instinct was built by playing tennis-ball cricket,” he said.
Uthappa also stressed the technical nature of tennis-ball cricket. “It depends on the kind of tennis ball you’re playing with. Some are dense, some less dense, and the lighter ones are actually harder to hit. Today, you even get tennis-ball bats. There’s a whole science to this. It’s not just haphazard anymore,” he added.
The BRPL welcomes aspiring and semi-professional cricketers aged 18 to 40 from 28 states and eight Union Territories across India.…Read more by By TNM (With ANI Inputs)