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One usually watches Robin Uthappa with an aching sense of something that “could have been”. The career of the 27-year-old has seldom taken off. There have been brief bursts of promise but he

is yet to reach the altitude of full potential. Hiring Pravin Amre as personal coach was one step towards a possible salvation. Here in the city, he is making most of the off-season.

Uthappa has been training with Amre at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s indoor academy in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). There is nothing uncommon about it. Most cricketers, even if they

are not contracted by the BCCI, use the off-season productively.  What is interesting, however, is the amount Uthappa is shelling out for his practice sessions. This paper has learnt that

Uthappa pays Rs15,000 for every two-hour session at the MCA. It’s quite an amount even by the standards of IPL cricketers, so what if Pune Warriors acquired him for a whopping Rs9.66 crore?

“He has been here since May, but he doesn’t practise every day. Usually, we charge Rs20,000 per day but we are happy to offer this immensely hard-working man a small reduction in fee,” said

an MCA office-bearer. Add to it his contract with Amre — that’s not a meagre amount either. Word is that Uthappa is so determined to reclaim his place in the Indian team that he’s willing to

take a break for a year to reincarnate himself as a completely different batsman.