Although he had performed well in the middle order, Robin Uthappa was keen to open the innings for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Once he was given the opportunity, the batsman made the most of it. In his third outing as an opener, Uthappa scored 47 and was involved in a 106-run opening stand with Gautam Gambhir that set up the match in his team’s favour at the Ferozeshah Kotla on May 7. Uthappa, who has scored 47, 65 and 47 so far in his outings as KKR’s opener said that he had requested his captain and the support staff to give him the chance to open the innings. While speaking to iplt20.com after beating the Delhi Daredevils, he mentioned that he was glad to perform well after the team management granted his wishes. He also credited his personal batting coach, Pravin Amre, for improving his game. Excerpts from his interview: Relieved to halt the losing streak? It is good to start the business end of the tournament with a win. We played a few close games where we didn’t quite pull it off. There was a slight lack of self-belief somewhere, but we have got it together now and it is important to get a win. We had the rub of the green today. I think we were due for that and hopefully lady luck will keep smiling on us. What were your plans while bowling first against DD? I was surprised when they chose to bat first on this kind of wicket because the Delhi wicket gets better to bat on later in the day. You can always chase down big scores here. I was happy when I heard that we are going to be fielding first. I thought that if we can stick to the basics and create a partnership between Gautam and me, it will help. It’s important to get a good start and I am glad we got one and were able to build a solid foundation to get a victory under our belt. What are the benefits of having a right-left batting combination? It helps a lot, especially in a T20 game, because it doesn’t let the blowers settle down on a line and length. You know that you are going to play aggressively then, and it adds to your advantage. Was it your and Gautam Gambhir’s experience that came into play today? Every game has been crucial, but I think the fact that we had lost too many close matches made us even more aware of our responsibilities towards the team. Both of us wanted to do well. We have always batted well together. We understand each other and we run well between the wickets. We help create a flow for each other’s innings. That camaraderie helps in laying a good foundation for the team, and we are glad to do that in a winning cause. Are you enjoying batting at the top of the order again? Yes, I am loving it! It is where I feel at home; that is my bread and butter. So, I just love opening the batting. I think that’s where I do the best and that is something I was telling the support staff and Gautam, and I had a conversation with them about it. I am glad that they gave me an opportunity and that I have been able to utilise that opportunity in a way that has been meaningful for the team. How do you prepare for being flexible in batting order? It is a challenge, but you know that you have to be flexible when you are playing T20s. You approach it such that you make a meaningful contribution. You don’t want your performances to go in vain; you don’t want your team to be on the losing side. So, you make that change, accept it as a challenge and do your best. But I did mention to the support staff that I can do a lot better if I open the batting. I am glad that I was able to justify what I said to them. And I am glad that they had the faith in me to send me up the order. And I was happy to repay that faith. Unfortunate to miss out on the half-century today I have got two half-centuries where the team didn’t win, but I got a 47 where the team won. It feels really good as at the end of the day, you want the team to win and you want the runs to matter. Even if it is not fifty, it doesn’t matter. You had talked about cleaning up your cricket. What efforts and adjustments did you have make to do that? This interview would be too short a time to tell you how I have cleaned up my cricket. It has taken two to two-and-a-half years to go through the whole processes mentally and skill-wise. I am happy that I am able to play the way I am playing right now. I am in a good frame of mind and play to my potential and grateful for all the support I have received. I cleaned up my cricket as far as my skills were concerned. I really started working on my skills, playing technically correctly – watching the ball well and cleaning up my technique as far as opening the batting was concerned. Because you have to play with the new ball and know how to approach the new ball and have to get the team off to a good start, the responsibilities of opening batsmen are all the things that I focused on. It took a couple of years to get everything going and get the results. Is there anyone in particular you have worked with? Pravin Amre is someone who I have worked with for the last couple of years. And that I think is the best decision that I made in my life – to hire him as my personal coach. A lot of people were skeptical about Indian coming up with something like this. But I believed that he would help me. I saw his sincerity about the game, and his love for the game was so true that I just felt he was the right person to work with. I just held his hand and he walked me through it. What was his advice? Keep your head still and keep watching the ball. We have worked on so many different things that words would be less to put it across. Glad to have turned the tables on the Delhi Daredevils? It was a close game for us in Dubai. It was unfortunate to have lost that because I thought we had bowled really well throughout the game. But in the last two overs, they took the game away from us and that’s actually what has been happening for us. We have been playing good cricket for about 30-35 overs of the game, and then for a few overs, we don’t play up to the mark and that’s enough to take the game away from us. It shows that you need to be on the button throughout the 40 overs; and that’s the most crucial thing.