Robin Uthappa keen to excel behind the wickets too for Pune Warriors

Batter Uthappa looks to excel behind the wickets too for Pune Warriors in the IPL

Robin Uthappa (25) is as open as they come. He was not coy to admit to MiD DAY that he didn't expect to be bought for $2.1 million.

Robin Uthappa 'keeping for Rcb in the 2009 IPL. PIC/AFP

Pune Warriors beat Bangalore Royal Challengers to the bid at last weekend's Indian Premier League player auction.

Now that he has experienced the thrill of being bought for such a high price, Uthappa spoke about how he wants to go about helping the Pune outfit to make their IPL debut memorable.

Excerpts from an interview with MiD DAY:

On the high price he fetched at the auction:
I am very happy. Seriously, I didn't expect that much money. I thought I could get maximum 1 to 1.5 million ufffd not more. Now, I have greater responsibility too.

On playing for a non-Bangalore team:
I will miss playing in front of my home crowd. The Chinnaswamy Stadium is the greatest ground in the world for me. I enjoyed a good relationship with RCB over the last two years. I will miss that too, but this is part of life for a professional cricketer.
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On Sahara buying him because of his additional wicketkeeping skills:
Wicketkeeping is one of my favourite activities. After my batting, 'keeping is the one thing I like very much. I like to keep wicket in the Twenty20 form of the game because it's very challenging. I am looking forward to donning the big gloves for Pune Warriors.

On the balance of his IPL side:
I was not in the mood to think about this initially. I was gutted after Karnataka failed to make it to the Ranji Trophy final.

But I have had a good look now and I can say it's a very balanced side. We are as good as any other team in the competition.