Paddy Upton reveals how Dhoni's idea ensured that no one comes late for the team practice

What's the story?

Former Indian mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has revealed how MS Dhoni's unique idea has helped the team to turn up for the practice on time. He also said that initially, the idea came from Anil Kumble who was the Test captain at that time and Dhoni enhanced that with more inputs which actually worked out.

In case you didn't know...

Paddy Upton was India's psychological coach during the golden period of the Indian cricket between 2008 to 2011. India did really well and went on to win the World Cup during his tenure with the Indian team. This South African made an interesting revelation in his recent book 'Barefoot'.

The heart of the matter

When Paddy joined the Indian team, Anil Kumble was the Test captain and Dhoni was the ODI captain. It seemed that Kumble suggested whoever comes late for the practice session will be charged 10,000 rupees fine. Dhoni went one step ahead and said if anyone comes late then the entire team will pay 10,000 rupees fine. When they imposed this rule no-one turned up late for the practice session.

Upton said,

“When I joined the team Anil Kumble was the captain of the Test team and MS Dhoni was the captain of the ODI team. We had a very self-governing process. So we said to the team ‘is it important to be on time for the practice and team meetings?’ Everyone said yes it is. So we asked them if anyone is not on time is there anything one should give up? We discussed it amongst ourselves and the players, and eventually, it was left to the captain to decide.”

He further added,

“In the test team, Anil Kumble said that the consequence would be a ten thousand rupees (10,000) fine which the person who was late would have to pay. And then we had the same conversation with the one day team and there also MS (Dhoni) said that ‘yes there should be a consequence. So if somebody is late, everybody will pay a ten thousand rupees fine!’ Nobody was ever late from the one day team again.”

What's next?

The on-field performance always has a direct relation with the off-field discipline. Even in the current Indian team, Virat Kohli has set an example that if you stay fit your on-field performance would go to the next level. The Indian Captain puts importance on the fitness which could be one of the key factors during the 2019 World Cup.