BCCI has brought on board mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton for the all-important ICC T20 World Cup 2022. The South Africa will be joining the squad inin West Indies in the lead up to the tournament.
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Upton enjoys a strong rapport with team’s Head Coach Rahul Dravid with whom he had worked in IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals. Furthermore, the two know each other since 2011 World Cup days where Upton was part of the support staff headed by Gary Kirsten. India eventually went onto win the World Cup.
“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 to Hindustan Times.
Upton’s last gig was with RR in IPL 2022 where he was the ‘team catalyst’.
Meanwhile, India had a number of mental conditioning or mind coaches over the years. It all began in 2003 when John Wright, then Indian coach, brought on board psychologist Sandy Gordon who then introduced the concept of team Also
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Later Australia’s Greg Chappell also got assistance from renowned sports psychologist Rudi Webster during his almost two year tenure.
Interestingly, the mind coach went missing from the scene under the tenure of Ravi Shastri during the 7-year long reign. Furthermore, Anil Kumble too never tried to fill this role with an expert as he himself was known to be as the strong motivator.
Mental conditioning coach has become a goto position with almost all the high-pofile teams in world sport hiring one, meanwhile, cricket is no exception.
Teams like India, England and Australia usually compete in high stakes environment with expectations from their fans being sky high. This brings added heat on individual players which can be countered with an expert like Upton in the dressing room.
Meanwhile Team India on Sunday clinched the ongoing series against West Indies following a 2-wicket win in the second ODI in Trinidad. The final fixture is yet to be played on Wednesday after which the focus will be shifted to the 5 T20Is. The series begins on July 29 and will be played across the Caribbean and the USA.
The shortest format has always been the forte of the West Indies and the challenge for India gets tough when it comes to facing the Men in Maroon in their backyard. World No. 1 India are very well aware of this fact and would leave no stone unturned in giving it back to Nicholas Pooran & Co.
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