Rahul Dravid ropes in Paddy Upton as India’s mental conditioning coach ahead of T20 World Cup

South Africa’s Paddy Upton, who was part of India’s 2011 World Cup winning team’s support staff, is rejoining the national contingent ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Upton who is renowned for his work has been roped in on a short-term contract and will be the latest addition.

“Yes, Paddy will be joining the ODI team from Wednesday’s third game against the West Indies and will continue till the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia. It is a short-term arrangement for a period of four months,” a senior BCCI source said.

Upton was first included in the support staff of Team India in the year 2008 by former India coach Gary Kirsten and they forged a successful partnership till 2011. Since then he has been associated with various IPL teams and he has also worked with Rahul Dravid at Rajasthan Royals.

It is only understandable that Dravid approached Upton for being familiar with his style of work which had worked wonders for the Indian team of the last decade.

Upton, during the last IPL, was Rajasthan Royals’ ‘team catalyst’.

With India having a hectic itinerary going into the T20 World Cup starting with the Pakistan game in Melbourne on October 23, Dravid perhaps would have understood the need of having a man, who is known for being a motivator and also helping players cope with rigours of international cricket.

During the last edition, the BCCI had MS Dhoni as the ‘Mentor’ for the event. However, the move didn’t yield the desired result and went in vain.

Some of the players that Upton has worked with during his Team India stint (between 2008-2011) are Virat Kohli, current skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja.  He has worked with Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna at Rajasthan Royals.

(Inputs from PTI)

Latest Cricket News