Kolkata: KKR batsman Robin Uthappa, who is back in action after recovering from an ankle surgery, Friday said ‘he is in a good place’ at the moment.
The 33-year-old, who plays for Saurashtra in domestic cricket, scored 46 against Railways in his return to competitive cricket in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament Thursday.
He had an ankle surgery that had kept him out of action for four months. Rejuvenated, and a long-time niggle taken care of, Uthappa spent almost a month at the KKR Academy, getting back to the grind with the help of Abhishek Nayar, the lead coach and mentor of the Academy.
“I am in a good place right now. Well honestly, it has been a learning curve for me – going through the injury, and then, the surgery,” Uthappa said. KKR open their IPL 2019 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at home March 24.
In October 2018, Uthappa went under the knife in London. Medically, the condition is called Osteophytes, where after a particular bone or joint goes through some stress. It causes additional growth as the bone naturally calcifies itself to bridge the gaps.
“It was impeding the flexibility and movement around my ankle, and I have had it for the last three or four years. Immediately after the surgery, the range of movements around my ankle was almost twice as much as (it was) before the surgery even happened. So I am really happy to get it out of the way. I am happy to be back to playing cricket,” he added.
Following a range of rehabilitation drills and exercises, Uthappa arrived in Mumbai to train at the KKR Academy in January. “As I have batted more balls, and spent more time here in the middle, I’ve actually felt I have gotten better and better and better,” he said.
“Every day that I have spent at the KKR academy camp – I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. (Nayar’s approach) is definitely out of the box, and something that seems to be working for me very well,” the right-handed batsman said.
