India rope in familiar mind coach for the T20 World Cup

Paddy Upton will be joining the Indian cricket team in the West Indies and will be with the squad till the T20 World Cup

Mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton who played a part in MS Dhoni-led India’s 2011 World Cup winning team has been added to team India’s support staff to assist in preparations for the upcoming October-November T20 World Cup in Australia. “Paddy will be joining the team in West Indies as a mental conditioning coach and will be there till the T20 World Cup,” said a BCCI official on condition of anonymity.

File image of Paddy Upton (Getty Images)

Upton has been involved in cricket around the world in various capacities and enjoys a good rapport with head coach Rahul Dravid. Both have worked together as coaches on many teams. Dravid was just a player when Upton would assist India head coach Gary Kirsten in the late 2010s. The duo then joined hands as a mentor and head coach respectively in two IPL franchises – Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals).

Also Reading | CSK star's stern warning to Virat Kohli critics: 'Leave him alone. He has scored 70 hundreds, he'll score 30-35 more'

“Paddy is a thought-leader. He brings a unique approach and relevant approach to cricket and life,” Dravid had written in praise of Upton in the latter’s book. Upton’s last gig was with RR in IPL 2022 where he was the 'team catalyst'.

Over the years, Indian head coaches have been regularly roping in mind experts to mentally condition the players in dealing with the pressures of a World Cup.

Before Upton’s 2011 association, coach John Wright had brought in sports psychologist Sandy Gordon for the Sourav Ganguly-led 2003 World Cup team, where he introduced the pre-match team huddle. Before the 2007 World Cup, then head coach Greg Chappell had used the services of renowned sports psychologist Rudi Webster.

However, the mind coach went missing after Ravi Shastri took charge in 2014. Shastri who coached India to most of the major ICC events in his 7-year long reign (Anil Kumble was the coach for the 2017 Champions trophy) is known to be a strong motivator himself and preferred to prep the teams up in his own style.

By now, mental conditioning in sport has become more wholistic and Upton has spoken in his past interviews of working to help the players deal with insecurities over selections and not overthinking during the intervals between matches during a world event.

Upton would speak about normalising the use of ‘when we play the World Cup final in Mumbai’ in lead up to the 2011 World Cup to ease the pressure within the group of playing a big final. He may soon be switching to ‘when we play the World Cup final at MCG’.

India remains in search of an elusive T20 World Cup win, having won the inaugural title, fifteen years back.