Rahul Dravid is good at developing talented cricketers: Paddy Upton

The appointment of Rahul Dravid as the head coach for the Sri Lanka tour was lauded by everyone in the cricketing world. Former Indian strategic leadership coach, Paddy Upton also appreciated the decision. 

Upton met Dravid in 2013 at the Rajasthan Royals and worked with him for a few seasons of IPL. He even worked with Dravid at the Delhi Daredevils franchise.

In a recent interview, Upton praised Dravid’s work ethic and his ability to grow young players into excellent cricketers. Rahul Dravid has always been a great cricketer and a good person. Thereby, he can grow young players into excellent cricketers with a good attitude. There has never been any controversy that followed Dravid and no one can say that he is a controversial person. 

Upton also compared the world of business and the changing nature of cricket circles. He explained how teams around the world pick players based on their nature as well as talent. Upton was also the performance director of Cricket South Africa. He explained that Dravid grooms the young players to have a good nature with extreme talent. That helps them get selected to play in international cricket. 

The world is moving into a time when having just talent is not enough. No one can succeed by just being a high performer in the modern era of cricket. A person's character and value also matter while they represent a county on-field. 

If top players are disruptive then they are rejected from the teams in the big leagues. Coaches and managers from around the world are focusing on selecting good athletes who are also good people. 

Upton talked about his time in the IPL alongside Rahul Dravid

Rajasthan Royals had failed to qualify for the playoffs four times in a row before 2013. When Upton joined forces with Dravid the RR campaign had taken a proper nosedive. The fact that the team had won the 2008 IPL trophy was long forgotten because of the disastrous performance of the team. 

Nevertheless, the Dravid and Upton partnership worked for RR and the team made the playoffs in the 2013 and 2015 seasons. Rajasthan Royals had finished in fifth place in 2014.

When Upton had joined the Rajasthan Royals team, the team was in the 6th position. It was because the owners had not given the full money to go to the auction. It led to the team having lesser-known players with little experience but high potential. So Dravid and Upton came up with the idea to get the best out of the young players. 

The RR team was like a group of wild dogs attacking massive teams like MI and CSK. So they focused on targeting the weak points of the big teams and worked smartly. It helped the team succeed and qualify for the playoffs. 

After the 2013 IPL season, Rahul Dravid had retired from cricket. But he had joined RR as a mentor for the next season. It established a direct working relationship between Upton and Dravid.

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