'I was completely into depression': Robin Uthappa recalls his first season with RCB in IPL

Veteran Indian batter Robin Uthappa has revealed he was completely into depression and was not at all in the right mental space during his first season with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Uthappa was part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 but was later transferred to RCB.

During a conversation with Indian spinner R Ashwin on his YouTube channel, Uthappa revealed he didn't want to go to RCB from the Mumbai Indians but someone at MI told him that he is unlikely to get a chance to play for the franchise if he decided to stay and not opt for the transfer.

Uthappa revealed he battled depression during IPL 2009 which was his first season with RCB and his mental space also affected his performances on the field. Uthappa recalled how he had a mediocre season for RCB and was able to do well in just one game for his side.

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"I was going through something in my personal life and I was completely into depression during my first season with RCB. I didn't play well even for one game that season. The only game in which I did well was when I was dropped and picked again. I played thinking that I really needed to do something in this match. Someone from MI had told me that if I didn't sign the transfer papers, I'd not get to play in the XI for MI," Uthappa told Ashwin.

"I feel like I played during the best phase of RCB. It was a phase in IPL where the first year was a lot of fun because everyone was finding ground. I think from the second year onwards, it became really big.

So, I was along with Zaheer Khan and Manish Pandey. I was one of the first people to be transferred in IPL. For me, it became extremely difficult because my loyalties were completely laid out with MI at that point. It happened a month before the IPL and I refused to sign the transfer papers," he added.

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Uthappa managed to score only 175 runs in 15 matches for RCB in IPL 2009 at an average strike rate of 102.94. However, he bounced back to form next season with 374 runs in the campaign. Uthappa enjoyed his best time at Kolkata Knight Riders under Gautam Gambhir.

He was part of the KKR squad which won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014. Uthappa moved to Chennai Super Kings last year and went on to win the title with the MS Dhoni-led side. He is currently part of the CSK squad under their new skipper Ravindra Jadeja and has done well so far in IPL 2022.