Paddy Upton Opens Up On How And When India's 2011 World Cup Preparation Started

On the night of 2nd April 2011, India achieved its ultimate dream of winning the World Cup when Mahendra Singh Dhoni nailed Nuwan Kulasekara for a whirlwind six to kick off a celebration for the ages across the country.

The 2011 World Cup was seen as India’s best possible chance of finally claiming the holy grail. The tournament was being staged on home soil and the Men in Blue were at the pink of their health coming into the tournament.

But, when and how did the preparation for the marquee event started? India’s mental and health-conditioning coach Paddy Upton, in an exclusive interview to Times of India, has revealed the preparation for the tournament started 10 months prior when India was locking horns with Sri Lanka during the 2010 Asia Cup.

“The World Cup journey started 10 months out, during the Asia Cup tournament played in Sri Lanka. We actually started the conversation in earnest, on the morning of that Asia Cup final, when we were scheduled to play against Sri Lanka. On that morning, we plotted the 10 months journey leading to the World Cup final. It was an interesting turn of events that we ended up playing the same team (Sri Lanka) in the World Cup final 10 months later,” Upton told Times of India.

Made players visualize that one billion fans were walking alongside them on the field: Paddy Upton

Prior to India’s 2011 heist, the no-host nation had ever won the World Cup on its soil and with the kind of fanbase that the Men in Blue had, the team-management knew that the players will be under humongous pressure once they step on the field in the tournament. And, to ensure that the players do not overburden their mind with the pressure of expectations, Upton and the team-management ensured that the players visualize they are walking into the World Cup fixture with a billion fans walking alongside them rather wearing that burden on their shoulders.

“At that point, in 2011, no team has won a world cup on home soil. One reason we thought this might have been the case due to the additional home pressure on the host nation’s players’ shoulders. There is no bigger pressure nor fan base (what) the Indian team have, so we knew the pressure would be immense on their shoulders,” Upton said

He added: “So much of our campaign was about understanding pressure, lowering it to manageable levels, and having a really good attitude towards it. The pressure is something that we create for ourselves, in our own head. We worked hard to ensure that players didn’t escalate the pressure to unmanageable levels inside their own heads. One of the many ways we did this, was to have players imagine, when they walked out onto the field to play, that they had 1 billion fans walking alongside them and holding their hands in support, rather than wearing the burden of that pressure on their shoulders,”

Upton and the team management’s strategy paid off as the Men in Blue overcame many hurdles in their way with a cool-and-collected approach, paving way for the eventual World Cup glory.

Also Read: Yuvraj Singh Trained For Months To Win The 2011 World Cup For India: Paddy Upton