Sachin Tendulkar had asked Gary Kirsten to be his friend, reveals Paddy Upton
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Paddy Upton has revealed that Sachin Tendulkar had asked former India coach Gary Kirsten to be his friend as part of a team-building exercise conducted by the Indian management at the start of his tenure. Upton also added that Kirsten had three goals in mind before taking charge of India in 2008.
The Greg Chappell era was probably one of the darkest phases of Indian cricket and when the former Australian cricketer vacated his post as coach of the Indian team, there was a huge void left to be filled in order to get India back on track. That’s when South Africa’s Gary Kirsten stepped in along with compatriot Paddy Upton who helped India to its second World Cup trophy in the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup on home soil.
Upton, who is currently the coach of Rajasthan Royals, revealed how Kirsten took charge of the national team at the start of his tenure. Kirsten asked each player individually what he expected from the coach.
"All of them were looking for a direction to go forward," Upton recalled. "Sachin Tendulkar perhaps articulated everyone's thought when he said 'I want you to be my friend'.
"We collected inputs from the players on what were the things they thought we should continue with or should do away with. We only organised these inputs and presented the players their own ideas. Immediately, we found acceptance,” Upton said in a recent interview with TOI.
Upton further revealed that when Kirsten and he were on their way to India in 2008, they set themselves three goals which they hoped to achieve during their stay with the national team.
"When we (he and Kirsten) were on our way to India in 2008 to take up our assignments, we chalked four goals, three of which were made public and one was kept as a secret.
“The first three were, make India the number one Test team, win the World Cup and get a feeling of bonding within the team. The last, which we kept to ourselves, was to make Indian cricketers better human beings. We knew that if we could do that, the first three could also be achieved,” Upton added.
