New Delhi, Mar 27 (IANS): India's star cueist Pankaj Advani seldom follows cricket, but never misses a match when Robin Uthappa is playing.

Advani, a 24-time world champion in different categories, said that he watches Uthappa's matches as the swashbuckling batter is his college friend and neighbour in Bengaluru.

"I am not an ardent fan of cricket, but I regularly follow one player who is Robin Uthappa. He is my neighbour in Bengaluru and also my college friend," Advani told IANS.

"I watched last edition's match in which Robin played a brilliant knock against Delhi Capitals. He played really well and hit many fours and sixes," he added.

In the last season, Chennai Super Kings entered a record ninth final of IPL after chasing down Delhi Capitals' 172/5 with two balls to spare. Delhi put up a challenging total courtesy a 83-run stand off just 50 balls between skipper Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer.

But Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa stitched together a second wicket partnership of 110 off 77 balls to guide CSK home.

While Gaikwad scored a scintillating 70 off 50 balls, Uthappa played a stellar knock of 63 off 44 deliveries to set up a memorable victory.

Advani, 36, who won the Asian Billiards Championship in 2022, said that apart from Robin, he also likes watching Mahendra Singh Dhoni in action.

"Apart from Robin and Dhoni, whom everybody loves, I don't follow any other cricketers," he said.

A big match player, Uthappa is back with the CSK for the 2022 edition of the league. The Chennai franchise bought him for his base price of Rs 2 crore at the mega auctions held last month.

Earlier, Uthappa was one of Kolkata Knight Riders' mainstays in their title-winning efforts in 2012 and 2014 with an aggregate run tally of 405 and 660 runs in the respective editions.