Paddy Upton, who was the part of Team India’s support staff during the 2011 World Cup, in his newly-released book, ‘the Barefoot Coach’ has hailed MS Dhoni for his resilience and approach towards the game, but with the ‘lack of access to emotions’. He reiterated that Dhoni is psychologically very strong who has enormous control over his emotions.
The former mental conditioning coach for India has given his insights regarding the premium players in his latest book. He has been in awe of Dhoni, who has done exceedingly well before making a mark as a leader.
While discussing things to its length and breadth, Upton has credited Dhoni for maintaining integrity.
The 50-year-old South African Upton, who’s serving as a head coach for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), believes Dhoni doesn’t seem to have ‘access to emotions’. He backed it by saying it is a trait from the birth.
The 37-year-old former Indian skipper Dhoni has recently lost his calm when a no-ball was overturned during Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Royals’ game in Jaipur. It becomes pertinent that Dhoni storms to the ground – to have a few words with the on-field umpires.
Upton feels Dhoni’s has lack of access to emotions:
Over the years, Dhoni has served as the vanguard. While beginning his journey in 2004, the Ranchi-born star has bagged all-three coveted ICC titles. It further saw him being praised by former Pakistan President General Parvez Musharraf for his long strands of hair.
Known as ‘captain cool’, Dhoni has further led CSK to three IPL title. In 2019, Dhoni achieved a milestone of 100 IPL wins as a skipper in the ongoing twelfth edition of the IPL.
“I would go as far as to say, with the greatest respect for MS the man and the Cricketer, that it is not emotional control but the lack of access to emotions. MS is not wired as an emotional type. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have them; a performance-enhancing gift from birth,” Upton wrote in his book – The Barefoot Coach.
A stark contrast:
Owing to a bleak comparison with Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Upton conceded that the former wears a heart on his sleeve.
“Virat [Kohli] uses his visible and overt emotional charge to drive his success, whereas MS’s success is facilitated by his lack of emotional charge,” Upton further wrote.
Upton remarked that one should visualise and recommend Dhoni’s mannerism to energetic Kohli, who has succeeded Dhoni as a leader.
“Imagine taking that trait as the ultimate characteristic of a mentally tough athlete. And then, try to prescribe it to someone as emotionally wired like his successor Kohli,” he added.
So far, Dhoni has amassed 10,500 runs in 341 ODIs at an average of 50.7.
