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The famous Paddy Upton has re-joined the India's support staff as mental conditioning coach for a short-term contract ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Upton was a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian team's support staff.
Meanwhile, India's head coach Rahul Dravid feels Upton's vast reservoir of knowledge will be an immensely useful "resource" at a time when mental health of cricketers is becoming paramount in a choc-a-bloc international cricket calendar.
Upton, who had four fruitful years from 2008 to 2011 under Gary Kirsten is back at Dravid's insistence and will now help the elite Indian players cope up with pressure cooker scenario going into T20 World Cup in Australia.
"With so much cricket being played mental health side of cricket is very important and having a resource like him (Upton) will really be helpful to the group,” Dravid told BCCI.Tv.
Dravid also feels that Upton's familiarity with Indian cricket set-up will prove to be helpful. "Travelling as players in international cricket, we do understand the mental side of the game and we are lucky to get someone like Paddy on board because he has that experience of being with Indian team during 2011 World Cup and even a little before that.
"Most importantly he (Upton) is familiar with most Indian players having worked with them at IPL level or in Indian team.
"He is familiar with our culture and how the Indian team functions. (It) seemed like a really good fit for us, to tap into his knowledge as we look to build the team for the World Cup," added Dravid.
My role is to create environment for players to grow, Upton
Upton, who has had his own unique people skills to deal with individual players wants to be seen as a facilitator of optimum performance level from players in top-flight competition.
"Everybody has a natural motivational flow and part of my role is to help individuals find that natural motivation flow and for that we need to set up an environment that allows people to be themselves and to flourish," Upton said.
