Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa is displeased with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for allowing New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra to train at their academy before the Test series against India. Ravindra practiced at the academy ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at Greater Noida to get used to the Indian conditions.
It turned out to be a good decision by the 24-year-old as he scored 134 and 39* runs in the first Test played in Bengaluru. On the back of his player-of-the-match performance, the Kiwis won the Test for the first time in India since 1988. He continued his impressive show in the series as New Zealand eventually created history to not only win the series but also whitewash India in their own den.
Coming back to Uthappa, who played for CSK in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), felt that the country should come first and not the franchise. "Rachin Ravindra came here and practiced 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 in his YouTube channel.
However, Uthappa also cleared that he likes CSK as a franchise but a line has to be drawn somewhere when it comes to the country. "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.
For the unversed, Ravindra finished as the second-highest run-getter of the series with 256 runs to his name at an average of 51.2 leading the way for New Zealand.
