Upton the catalyst for a united Rajasthan Royals

The South African says his goal is to ensure that by the first half of the season, RR is more united than other teams.

Despite the loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, Rajasthan Royals have had a robust start to IPL 2022 with two wins in three matches. Aside from retaining skipper Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal from last season, the shrewd acquisitions of Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin and Prasidh Krishna at the auction table seem to be paying dividends as they occupy top spot in the points table at this early stage of the tournament. They are backed by a coaching staff spearheaded by former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara that includes Lasith Malinga as bowling coach.

File photo of Paddy Upton.(Twitter/RajasthanRoyals)

A strong squad and support staff alone may not guarantee success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) though. At least that’s what Royals think. To ensure that the players and the coaching staff work in synergy and bring the best out of each other, Paddy Upton has been roped in by the franchise in a new role as ‘Team Catalyst’. The South African has had two separate stints as head coach of Rajasthan Royals (2013-2015 and 2019) while his most notable contribution to Indian cricket is as the national team’s mental conditioning coach during the 2011 World Cup triumph.

“The role of ‘Team Catalyst’ encompasses some of the work I was previously doing as head coach. Even as head coach, my focus was on creating a culture, pulling the support staff and players together,” said Upton, sparing his time for a half-hour conversation over Zoom amid a series of team meetings. “IPL teams exist only for two months of the year. There are players of different ages, levels of experience and personalities. Generally, you just have 5-8 days before a season to turn this temporary team into a unit. This role allows me to focus full-time on this process.”

Given that the teams have been rejigged after a mega auction, all players will need time to forge camaraderie with new teammates. Upton, 53, believes that speeding up this process is integral to IPL success.

“From my position, I do see it (the camaraderie between players) as crucial. For instance, when a bowler is under pressure, what does he need from the captain and the fielders around him? Every bowler needs something different to help him during those pressure moments. We need to fast-track that understanding,” Upton said.

“We have seen successful teams like MI (Mumbai Indians) and CSK (Chennai Super Kings) tend to have the same team year after year. The more the players play together, the more consistent the performances will be. Every team starts from the same place this time because there was a mega auction. Part of my role is to ensure that by the first half of the season, the Royals are more united than the other teams. That’s my goal. I am confident we can achieve that.”

Upton’s role also involves looking after the mental well-being of players. While the IPL environment can be stressful on its own, the existence of bio-bubbles over the past two years due to Covid has added another layer of complexity.

“The thing that concerns me is the number of players who have had significant difficulties through the bio-bubble experience and haven’t spoken about it. We know there are a lot of cricketers who are carrying those anxieties within them. We obviously need to support them. Even outside of bio-bubbles, IPL can be very stressful. Now two years into bio-bubbles, the volume of difficulties for so many players has become so much higher,” said the South African.

Are bio-bubbles sustainable now? “One view is if you do have Covid running through a team and the team is not able to take the field in the middle of the tournament, it disrupts the tournament. There are significant television sponsorship consequences of a game not going ahead,” he said.

At the same time, “from a mental health perspective, the argument is let’s do away with bubbles as much as possible. Let players get away to get that freedom and mental wellness back. But if we do that, it conflicts with other aspects of managing the environment. Different stakeholders may have different views. We just need to hope that we can come up with decisions that take into consideration as many of these unique circumstances as possible. It’s a delicate balance.”

In spite of the perceptible challenges of playing under the current restrictions though, few cricketers have opened up about mental issues and taken time off from the game. Ben Stokes and Glenn Maxwell are notable recent exceptions.

“There are a few reasons players aren’t comfortable. It is the male cricket environment. If you are struggling, the perception is that you are mentally weak. That’s very unfortunate,” said Upton. “It takes a lot of courage to admit you are struggling, but the environment is not set up to accept that. There is a lot of change that needs to happen. It is also a lot easier for senior players to take a necessary break from the game. It is not so easy for younger players. They know somebody else is ready to take their place. I feel sorry for them a lot more. They are most vulnerable.”