South African-born Paddy Upton has been roped in again by the BCCI as the mental conditioning coach in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia. Upton was added to Team India’s squad straightaway in the West Indies ahead of the 3rd ODI.
Upton has previously had a successful stint with the Indian team when he was the assistant to Gary Kirsten between 2008 and 2011, culminating in the 2011 World Cup victory. He then continued with Kirsten and the duo helped South Africa become the No. 1 Test team in 2013.
Paddy Upton was Gary Kirsten’s assistant in 2011
The 53-year-old has shared a great deal of time with India’s current head coach, Rahul Dravid, and reflected on it in a chat with the BCCI.
In fact, according to Cricbuzz, Upton’s recruitment has been on the recommendation of Dravid, who was keen to have an expert who could immediately work with players – especially the younger ones – on mental conditioning, having played in biosecure environments for over two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the relentless schedule of the cricketers, Dravid felt the need to have someone like Upton to have his players in the best frame of mind going into the T20 World Cup.
Say Hello
to our Mental Conditioning Coach – Mr. Paddy Upton
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 26, 2022
to our Mental Conditioning Coach – Mr. Paddy Upton 
Upton recalled that he and Dravid go as back as 1996 when the India batsman called him up to have a discussion.
“If I reflect on my relationship with Rahul Dravid, it was in 1996 when I was with the South African team as a strength and conditioning coach. A young Indian cricketer phoned me on the tour to South Africa and said, Can I buy you a cup of coffee and ask you some questions?,” Upton recalled.
“His name was Rahul Dravid. He’s always been someone who’s got such a hunger to learn, not just around cricket, he’s a professor when it comes to cricket but about life and everything beyond cricket. We’ve been in conversations about cricket, life, spirituality and everything else literally since 1996,” he added.
The Johannesburg-born Upton has also served as the Performance Director of the Protea team, head coach of BBL side Sydney Thunder and PSL’s Lahore Qalandars. Most recently, he served as the ‘Team Catalyst’ at Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022.
He has worked alongside Dravid in the same team during the cricketer’s final years in the Indian team and then at Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils.
Speaking more of Dravid, Upton added: “We picked up again when I joined the Indian team with Gary Kirsten. So, it’s a conversation that I’ve been in for a long time. It’s exciting now to have those conversations literally every day, and hopefully, they can go somewhere towards helping this Indian team set up for an unbelievable T20 World Cup campaign.”
