Ranji: Cramps messed up momentum, says Uthappa

New Delhi: Robin Uthhapa today rued that there was a break in momentum after he was forced to retire due to cramps as visitors ended the day on 284 for seven. The Karnataka batsman brought up his century in the first session of the match but did not take the field after the break as he suffered from cramps. “Generally, I play my natural game and the runs keep coming. People like to play at their own pace and I play at my own pace,” Uthappa reasoned about the sudden halt in scoring. [caption id=“attachment_128481” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Uthappa said he was happy with his performance although he missed out on a big score. “]  [/caption] The batsman, however, conceded that there was a break in momentum. “The scoring did suffer a bit due to my cramps but we still are in a good position,” the opener said confidently. Uthappa said he was happy with his performance although he missed out on a big score. He added that the pitch was crumbling and pointed out that anything above 300 will be a good total on this surface. “The first four yards of the pitch are crumbling providing enough assistance to the spinners. But one thing which worked in our favour was the lack of bounce in the wicket,” Uthappa revealed. The batsman said that there are spots in the strip from where the odd ball is shooting up. “We back ourselves, we have got three bowlers who have been with the Indian team and are high on confidence. If JP (Yadav) can get bounce from the track, our bowlers can exploit the conditions as well. As far as the spinners are concerned, apart from Apanna, we have Amit Verma who is handy part-time spinner,” said Uthappa. Railways coach Abhay Sharma feels that the first thing that they should do is to quickly get the remaining three wickets. “Firstly, we should take the three remaining wickets as early as possible and then we will take it from there,” Sharma said. PTI