The son of Venu Uthappa, an international hockey referee, the tall and robust Robin Uthappa has, for a while, been talked of as a batsman who cannot be kept out of international sport for long. Although his record in domestic cricket - a first-class average of 32 from 20 matches with just one hundred - is modest his numbers in the limited-overs version recommend him well. He averages a touch under 40 with a highest of 160 and his runs come at a strike rate of over 93. At one time a wicketkeeper-batsman, Uthappa has since given up the big gloves to concentrate on batting, and now occasionally bowls mediumpace.

As a batsman he has always been attractive to watch, hard-hitting, with every shot in the book, unafraid to hit the ball in the air. If anything it is his temperament that has come under question and stopped him from claiming higher honours thus far. A useful member of the India under-19 team that won the Asia Cup, Uthappa first caught the eye when he made a brilliant 66 in a losing cause for India B against India A in the Challenger Trophy in Mumbai in 2005 against an attack that included Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik and RP Singh. But it was in the subsequent edition of the same tournament, in Mohali in 2006, where he cracked a matchwinning 93-ball 100 for India B against an India A team that had seen a ton from VVS Laxman that Uthappa really arrived in the big league. Robin is sometimes confused with Vinay Uthappa, coincidentally a wicketkeeper batsman from Karnataka but the two are in no way related.