IPL 7: Robin Uthappa enjoying opener's role along side Gambhir

KolkataA rejuvenated Robin Uthappa is relishing his new role as an opener alongside skipper Gautam Gambhir in Kolkata Knight Riders team and feels confidence and understanding was the mantra behind the duos success in the ongoing IPL7Both Uthappa and Gambhir has been out of the Indian team for quite some time now and would be eyeing a berth in the national squad for the upcoming England tour riding on their performances in the ongoing IPLRobin Uthappa PTI Photo BCCIThe confidence is good for both of us Gautam and I understand each other very well We play to our plan and we complement each other well We run very well in between the wickets We egg each other on We dont really think about pressure We just think of going out there and doing our job said Uthappa who guided KKR to an eightwicket win over Chennai Super Kings last night to take the team an inch closer to a playoff spotUthappa struck 67 from 39 balls and shared 64 runs in just seven overs for the opening wicket with Gambhir to raise their third 50 plus partnership The duo also have two century plus stands in the last five innings Talking about his new found consistency the 28yearold batsman from Bangalore said his focus this season was to play proper cricketing shots without taking any undue risks in the initial oversIf I can hold good shapes and get behind the line of the ball and just look to put into gaps I will have great chances of putting the team on course for a good score The important thing is to get the team to a good start in T20 format he saidAsked what he meant by holding good shapes Uthappa said In T20 cricket as you want to hit the ball really hard you tend to grab your right hand a bit you tend to square up a little bit I want to make sure that I stay side on as much as possible and play a little late Thats the intent If I can go out there and try doing that 10 times I feel I can find the gaps at least seven timesStressing on the importance of making a winning start to KKRs campaign on home turf in this IPL Uthappa said We came to Kolkata after a long time in the tournament We didnt know what the par score would be here We chased really well in our last gameWe just felt it would be better to go after a score because thats something we have done really well in the tournament It was very important to get off to a win here We are coming here after a long time and we wanted to give the crowd a win It was important to get off to a good start here Uthappa said KKRs strategy yesterday was to play out Chennai Super Kings strike bowlers without taking any undue risksCSK have a very formidable bowling attack If you give them an inch they will take a mile We wanted to make sure that we didnt take any risk We just wanted to consolidate in the middle and take it from there We wanted to play down their main bowlers built on a partnership and take it from there We have enough faith in our ability in the last fourfive overs to chase down a score he saidUthappa also hailed pacer Pat Cummins who bowled explosive CSK opener Dwayne Smith with his second ball of IPL debut I think Pat had a great first game Everyone understands that we are a very flexible team He bowled a peach of a delivery to get rid of Smith and gave us the momentum he saidUthappa feels the more he is keeping wickets the better he is becoming as a batsman I get better as I keep more It helps in my handeye coordination with my batting as well Im glad Im keeping very well The important thing is that Im reading Sunil Narine very well Im happy about it he concluded