'I'll certainly consider it': Robin Uthappa says he is open to taking up coaching in IPL

Former India batter Robin Uthappa has said that would “certainly consider” taking the opportunity of coaching in the Indian Premier League (IPL) if he gets one, adding his knowledge about how good some teams were in the league. Uthappa last turned out in the cash-rich league for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2022. He has won two IPL titles as a player, winning one title each with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and CSK. Uthappa is currently representing Harare Hurricanes in the Zim Afro T10 League in Zimbabwe. “It depends, I would certainly love to be involved with the team. If opportunities do come, I’ll certainly consider it. Yeah (coach), I would love to get involved in setting up…Maybe cricket operations, or director of cricket, where I feel like, I know what it takes or give a team the best chance to win the game," Uthappa was quoted as saying by news agency IANS following Harare’s win over Durban Qalandars on Wednesday. “Because I’ve been with different teams and I know how good teams work, can set structures in place which will help achieve them, something I love to do. So those opportunities, come up I’ll certainly consider them," added Uthappa, who has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India. Uthappa added that he just wants to play as much cricket as possible. “Well for me, I want to play more cricket. I was waiting 10 months of the year to play just the IPL. Ranji Trophy was not in the picture, you know at the age of 36 you are taking the spot of the youngster. You are not playing red-ball cricket and just appearing for white-ball cricket for practice because the level is altogether different when IPL is compared to domestic cricket," said the 36-year-old. Uthappa felt that the T10 format could be a great fit for the Olympics in the future. “T10 is a great initiative to introduce the game of cricket to a lot of young cricket-playing nations. It’s a great version of the game to take it in Europe and introduce cricket to them in this version and slowly bring it to them the T20 version or ODIs. It is a great version to be in the Olympics as well,” he added.