A World Cup final is a test of skill and character of cricketers. Many greats have failed, while others have gone on to become superstars. A similar test looms as India meet five-time champions Australia in the 2023 50-over Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Paddy Upton, former South African coach who was part of India's 2011 World Cup-winning team, says India has the trump card in Virat Kohli, the best high-pressure cricketer in the world. There's more. He also talks about India's chances against Australia. Watch video…
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Paddy Upton, former South African coach who was part of India's 2011 World Cup-winning team, says India has the trump card in Virat Kohli, the best high-pressure cricketer in the world. There's more. He also talks about India's chances against Australia. Watch video…
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
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#UAEnews #WorldCup #cricket
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00:00The only thing I can say with confidence is you have the single greatest high pressure player
00:06in the game playing in a final tomorrow in Virat Kohli.
00:13Hello everyone, welcome to Straight Bad with Gulp News, our analysis of the Cricket World Cup.
00:18I'm Shyam and joining me is our sports editor Satish and we have our special guests today are
00:25Paddy Upton and Sai Prasad. Paddy has been a regular with us. He's been a mental conditioning
00:32coach of the South African national team as well as the Indian national team. So he has a pretty
00:37much lot to unpack because South Africa just lost and India has gone to the final. And welcome to
00:43the show guys. Thank you very much. Thanks for having us again. And this before I know this
00:51final, we can't escape that. But before we talk about the final, let's have a look back at the
00:57semifinals and let's see where the missteps were. Paddy, first up, I need to see how South Africa
01:04won't start. I need to ask you the first question there. What happened to South Africa? Because
01:12at 24-4-4, the big best batting side in this World Cup, crashing to 24-4-4 by the 12th over
01:20was a disaster. Then the rest of it was like chasing their tail, isn't it? What went wrong
01:25there for them? Yeah, I mean, it's to be able to say that, you know, when you lose that number of
01:33your key batters early on, it really puts you on the back foot. I think what South Africa did do,
01:38particularly through David Miller's innings, is exceptionally well to be able to build something
01:42of a defendable total from that place. But once you've sort of had the real backbone of your
01:49batting lineup broken like that so early, Australia always had the upper hand. And I
01:53guess South Africa, you know, they elected to bat. They put themselves in that position. They
01:59knew that they were a much better team batting first, but they possibly also saw that the batting
02:05conditions might have been a little bit tricky early on with a bit of weather looking around.
02:10So they had to run the gauntlet. They had to make a call. They opted to play to their strengths,
02:15which is batting first, knowing that it was putting it under a little bit of pressure that
02:19because the wicket might have done a little bit more early on, which it did. And they just made
02:24some fundamental errors that really cost them their campaign. South Africa really fought back.
02:32I mean, you can't take it from them. They fought with their backs to the wall. This was not a joke
02:36at all, by no stretch of imagination. This is them fighting bravely, gallantly all through.
02:42Another 40 more runs. I think the match could have taken a different course altogether.
02:47At any point, did you think that South Africa could pull it off?
02:50Actually, I really thought when Maxwell was out, I thought South Africa had a chance. It was a
02:56very, very tight touch and go. And the two drop catches actually was the reason. I mean, I think
03:03that actually turned the tables. The fielding and the two drop catches. A lot of pressure was put in
03:08by the South Africans in the last few stages. But it was a little bit too late. But the fielding let
03:15them down. But it was a good fight back. And I think they can take away the tag of chokers. I
03:20think they have come back fantastically well, South Africa. Satish, you wrote about South
03:27Africa's batting fragility there. But they were phenomenal in the tournament. Perhaps the best
03:34batting side, the most feared batting side. But they also showed a tendency to crumple under pressure.
03:40So, what's this pressure? Absolutely, Shaan. Because that's exactly what I also wrote
03:46yesterday. And I think that's where they went wrong. Because to avoid the pressure of chasing,
03:53they went into the knockout without my open mindset. They were already
04:00under that pressure. The batting, they can't chase. And that's why they made the fundamental
04:05mistake of winning the toss and electing to bat first on a wicket that is wet. That's absolutely
04:13helping the bowlers. So, they should have actually, if they had probably batted second,
04:18trusted their batting, they could have done much better. Again, instead of going for the pressure
04:24of the chase, they lost to the pressure of the knockout stage. That is also another pressure
04:29which they did not factor in at that point of time. But in all, I think David Miller showed that
04:38he's probably cut out for this role where the other day we were talking about
04:42Virat Kohli or Steve Smith or Kane Williamson. No, I think David Miller yesterday showed that
04:48he's among those four players who can come up and stand up and then say,
04:54I can deliver when the chips are down. That's a phenomenal knock, which actually should translate
05:00and help the South African team going forward. Because once you have a middle-order batsman who
05:06can always come up and give his best when the chips are down, the top order can play with a
05:12lot of freedom just the way Rohit Sharma is doing it for India. So, I think it's a fabulous knock.
05:19And the batting crumbled, again, because of the pressure that they inflicted upon them.
05:26It's a knockout game. So they wanted to go back, go there and play their own attacking game. I think
05:32that's where they missed it. They should have waited. They should have played the waiting game.
05:37They should have lowered their gears, waited for the right opportunity and then come back stronger
05:42at a later stage. I think after the rain interruption, the wicket eased a bit. Probably
05:47it has dried out in the first one hour. So that's the time they should have started playing
05:51the shot. Instead of that, I think they played too early, especially Quinton De Kock, who could
05:56have waited a little bit more. But that's how CUNY plays. But also coming to the toss, I mean,
06:03there's been a lot of debate about whether they should have batted first or bowled first. But I
06:08believe, I'm not too sure, but I think Pat Cummins also seems to have said that he would have preferred
06:13to bat first as well. But anyway, be that as it may, but since we are on the topic of pressure,
06:19Paddy, since you are the mental conditioning coach, talk us through about this pressure
06:23aspect and how South Africa handled or mishandled it. You know, pressure, I've said it a number of
06:30times before, pressure is just a mental concept that we create for ourselves in our own mind.
06:36And the way we do that is by number one, having our mind focused into the future and number two,
06:42being really attached and desperate to wanting success. And the more desperate we are to chase
06:48success proportionately, the more pressure will rise. So, and the converse is also true. If you
06:54really focus on playing your best cricket ball by ball and trusting your strengths, trusting your
06:59plans, trusting your preparation, executing and playing what you see in front of you without
07:04having one eye on the result, that's what delivers the best performance. And I think South Africa,
07:10particularly in their comeback with the batting innings spearheaded by David Miller, David played
07:15ball by ball. He played each one on his merits. He didn't seem to have one eye on the scoreboard
07:20and being influenced by that. So pressure is the ability to stay focused in the moment
07:28or that's managing pressure and succumbing to pressure is having one eye on the scoreboard,
07:33on the results or on the trophy or not losing. And I think some of the South African players
07:38managed to do that well. And I think what maybe the batters up front, as was mentioned,
07:44didn't do that well is they didn't read the pitch, read the situation, read the conditions
07:49and play what was in front of them. They were playing to what has been a pre-programmed
07:54strategy and that wicket actually didn't allow them to do so yesterday.
07:59Now let's head over to the first quarterfinal where India beat New Zealand by 70 runs, but
08:0570 runs might be the margin, but it certainly didn't look so comfortable. I think India
08:13actually stretched the most in that particular game. Since again, that is where we saw pressure
08:20for the first time on India. So I'll come back to you again, Paddy. New Zealand actually gave
08:26India a fright. Suddenly things were unravelling, poor catching, sixes were flying and nothing
08:32seems to go for India. You could see a kind of panic sweeping the ranks. What happened there?
08:40I think the word panic is probably a bit of an exaggeration. You could see there was some
08:45anxiety and the players were, the Indian team for the first time was really engaged in a game that
08:52looked like it could go either way. But in reality, I think the players really held their composure
08:59because at any point, New Zealand needed to black bat at a, particularly from halfway in the game
09:04onwards, they needed to be chasing at least one, if not two boundaries and over, which means playing
09:09a really attacking brand of cricket. And you could see the Indian bowlers knew is, they were very
09:15clear on what lines and lengths they wanted to bowl. And they were inviting the Australians to
09:19say, okay, we are not going to make the first move and panic and try and start bowling Yorkers too
09:24early or too many bounces or trying to get too clever. They held their line, they held their
09:28composure knowing that New Zealand had to attack them and one mistake and they were going to get
09:35out. And, you know, credits to those two batsmen, Williamson and Daryl, you know, they really
09:44batted well, but the whole time, you know, the pressure was on them to score two boundaries and
09:49India just have five bowlers who are too good to be able to hit them for two boundaries,
09:54every over for 25 overs, even on a pretty true pitch. And we saw that pitch, I think it was
10:00obvious as well, that it was going to start turning a little bit, starting to be slightly
10:04too paced as it deteriorated in that last 25 of the hundred overs of that game. So I think India
10:10were challenged, but I don't think they ever panicked and they stayed inside their game plans.
10:15Had they gone outside of their game plans, I would have agreed with you that they panicked.
10:20All right. So, Sai, you are a staunch Indian supporter. You really had your heart in your
10:24mouth. Did you? Yes, up to the 30th over, yes, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell
10:30actually was playing so well that, you know, I was very, very, you know, and the drop catch in
10:35the 30th over of Shami, that also actually thought we lost the match. That was a match for us.
10:41And it was a tight game. And I was hoping, until Glenn Phillips was there,
10:47New Zealand had a chance. So after that, I thought it was India all the way. And with
10:50Shami's immaculate bowling, I mean, I can't say anything more. We had the best bowling attack
10:55in that match. He came back with a bang. And his second spell was actually the turning point.
11:02All right. Let's now go back to the main theme here. That is the final.
11:09Australia, who lost two of their first games, are in the final. They have won all their matches.
11:15Even if the semifinal was, they were put through the ringer, but they finally won that. But that's
11:20what Australia does best. But Paddy, again, I'll come back to you, because that particular match
11:26also showcased Australia's fighting spirit. Even when the chase was unravelling. At one point,
11:35we thought Stephen Smith and Labisheen could bat them out of the game, really. But
11:44wickets kept falling. And with every wicket falling, there was a chance that South Africa
11:49could come back into the game. But finally, Pat Cummins and Stark just put them over the line.
11:56That's what Australian teams always do. Tell us about it.
12:00No, I think the real difference there was the fact that Australia have been in these
12:05situations so many times. They know what it feels like for that pressure to build as the game
12:11nears to an end and the scoreline is very evenly matched. They know how to play those situations
12:18and stick to their game plans, buy their time, know they have more time than what the mind
12:23actually thinks. And to take the game deep, they have the experience which makes them a
12:28lot more difficult than, for example, South Africa, who don't know how to play a high-pressure
12:34semi-final game and be able to hang into the 90th to 100th over and see the game over the line.
12:42So it was Australia's experience as opposed to their superior skills, their superior game plans
12:48that played into their favour yesterday. And again, going into the final, Australia are going
12:52to go in as a team that I think this is their eighth final. They know how to play finals really
12:57well. So they will hang in even if they're behind the game. We're not going to see them doing
13:02anything silly or stupid. They will stay in there. They'll stay in the fight until the last ball is
13:06bowled, which we saw them do against South Africa in the semi. Satish, Paddy makes a very good point
13:13because Australia has been in eight finals and so that is some experience. The same cannot be said
13:19about India, who will be playing their third final. How do you think India will fare against
13:24Australia on Sunday? And it's not just eight finals. They are on an eight-match winning streak
13:31as well. So they have got the act together. They have the team composition together. Everything is
13:39fine. But the fact of the matter is the Indian team is equally good at this point in time. They
13:45are now on a 10-match winning streak. Yes, they were challenged by New Zealand. As Paddy says,
13:54the asking rate was too much. So they put New Zealand under pressure and they won a good close
14:00contest. I think India will stick to their own game plan, which has helped them win 10 games
14:07on the trot at home. And they know the conditions very well. And they have the team that can play
14:14to the conditions. The batting is not a one-man team. You have Rohit Sharma at the start and you
14:20have Kohli with a different role. And then comes in Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. Even Jadeja is in
14:27good touch in that way. I think it's going to be extremely difficult for Australia to beat this
14:34Indian team. Because for the matter, one area where Australia is going to struggle, which we
14:40saw yesterday, is the spin department. Thankfully, Maxwell came and bowled well and it assisted him.
14:47But Zampa was not able to make the same impact as what Shams Diya or Mahesh Maharaj did. So,
14:56that's going to be Australia's… I would say, Achilles heel if there is an area where the
15:02spinners will… Not just the spinners, excepting the top three bowlers. Even Kamil, for that matter,
15:08is not bowling. Bowled well yesterday. He gave away a lot of runs, for that matter, in that wicket.
15:13So, I think excepting Hazlewood and Stack, the bowling is a bit weak. And the 30 overs are going
15:18to make a big difference for Australia. Whereas in India, I don't see any weakness at this point
15:26in time. Even though they were tested by New Zealand, they came out flying colours. And the
15:32shrewd captaincy of Rohit Sharma, how to get the bowlers changed and making the right bowling
15:39changes, bringing the right players in, fielders in. Everything is going well in India's favour.
15:46I would say, India is still the team that was going to win. And Australians are going to
15:52find it difficult. Though they are in 8 finals and they know how to win. And
15:57they are pretty much on the run right now.
16:00Sai, in your mind, only India can win on Sunday. What do you think is key for India?
16:12I don't want to jinx it. You see, the positive part of it is, in 2003, we had only one-man-run
16:17machine of Sachin Tendulkar. But here, in today's match, in this 2023 team, we have Rohit, as Satish
16:24was saying, we have Rohit, we have Virat Kohli, we have Shreyas Iyer and Rahul. So, there is a lot of
16:32things. It's India's World Cup to lose. So, India has played very well during the entire season.
16:38And if they go with the same camaraderie, same confidence, it is India's World Cup to lose.
16:43And in the Australian side, Glenn Maxwell and Glenn Smith, if they come fight, it's a very,
16:50very challenging time. But still, I still believe, as an Indian fan, it's India's World Cup to lose.
16:57Okay. Let's stay with India. And Paddy,
17:01Virat Kohli had some words of gratitude for you and it's all over the social media.
17:06Can you elaborate on that?
17:10Well, it's not often that athletes do actually take the time to acknowledge the people that
17:16have helped them to get to the top, the people in the back room. And for me, it's been an absolute
17:22privilege for the last year and a half or so that Virat has allowed me into his life and into his
17:28head and given me the real insights to have the conversations around what it takes to be the
17:36ultimate professional, deliver results at the highest level repeatedly. So, obviously, the
17:42content of our conversations remains confidential, but it's just been a privilege to have been on
17:47this journey and be on the journey with him as he navigates. When I work with athletes, I don't work
17:54and focus on performance. I focus on the athlete as a whole, build them as a person, build their
18:00character, build their self-esteem, their values, their morals, what they're actually wanting to
18:06accomplish in their life overall. And once you've got those foundations of who somebody is being as
18:11a person and you cannot achieve great heights and sustain those great heights if you don't have
18:16deeply dug foundations or roots, as I said, which is character and values and ethics. So,
18:22you know, we've worked on both Virat the person initially and navigating, you know, his life and
18:30how things have changed as he's got more mature and married and got a kid and been a father now
18:34compared to be a young man in his early 20s. And based on that foundation and, okay, so what does
18:39this mean when you walk out to bat against different opposition and different circumstances
18:44and different conditions and different scoreboard situations, let's prepare for every eventuality
18:49and have the right mindset of being able to focus purely on bringing your preparation,
18:56bringing your talents, bringing your game plan, sticking to your strengths. And then you can trust
19:00playing one ball at a time and you play from instinct rather than have any thinking interfere
19:06with your performance. But he said that done and you said Kokoly is one of the few players who
19:12could actually do it. Why is it so difficult? Well, if it was easy, you know, we're talking
19:19about unraveling the mystery of life. There's people who spend their whole life trying to
19:24achieve enlightenment and nobody is the finished product, nobody dies the finished product,
19:30but to really interrogate what it means to be human, what it means to live in this world,
19:36to navigate the range of emotions, the range of experiences, the highs and lows and trying to
19:41remain equanimous and focused and as unaffected as possible, but also human in this process.
19:48It's a journey that we're all on and very few people in the world actually embrace what it
19:53means to be fully human and live into the potential that we were born with, not just as an athlete,
19:58but as a whole person. So we're talking about a journey that very few people even reach anywhere
20:04near the peaks available to them. And every now and again, you get some cricketers, which I've
20:08been very lucky to work with, for example, Sachin Tendulkar, who he also realized the value of being
20:14the best human being I could be. And that is different to being the best cricketer I can be,
20:18but the one really compliments and underpins and supports the other. And so it is very,
20:24very difficult. Life is very complicated, but the rules of life and the things that
20:30set us up for success in life and in business and sports, the principles are all universal.
20:35We all know them, but it's about how do we smartly apply them into our life. And too many people,
20:40to be honest, are too lazy and they cut corners, avoid things, actions that don't actually move
20:46them forward and bear it to someone who doesn't waste one moment on eating something or in a way
20:52that he sleeps away trains that is going. Everything he does is to move him forward
20:56as a person, as a cricketer, and he avoids things that keep him stagnant or hold him back.
21:01When we spoke last time, you were talking about the high-pressure players or a medium-level
21:09pressure players, low-pressure players. How do you view the players in this current Indian team
21:17vis-a-vis with the Australian team, some of them? And who are the high-pressure players? Because
21:21it's going to be a very high-pressure game tomorrow. Who do you think are the high-pressure
21:24games in these two teams and who are the high-pressure games in the world cricket today?
21:31That's a very, very good question. It's a very relevant question. Unfortunately,
21:35your answer is completely subjective in that it really is a sliding scale. The only thing I can
21:40say with confidence is you have the single greatest high-pressure player in the game
21:47playing in a final tomorrow in Virat Kohli. Fortunately, there are a number of other
21:52players within the Indian team who are also able to shoulder the burden of responsibility.
21:59I guess the one just orange flag, as long as the players aren't placing too much value on Virat
22:06delivering, because if he gets a great ball and he gets out early,
22:11one doesn't want the players to get nervous. We know the fans watching will all be terrified if
22:17Virat Kohli gets out early, particularly in a chase, but there's enough good players to be able
22:21to see the team home. But to answer your question, Virat is probably head and shoulders above anyone
22:27else on either team tomorrow when it comes to being a high-pressure player.
22:32And who are those in the world cricket today? Any good names we have today, Paddy?
22:37You know, Kane Williamson is pretty solid. Steve Smith, Lubbershane is proving to be pretty good.
22:51It's more difficult to be a high-pressure player as a batsman. It's probably easier as a bowler.
22:56Probably the only time it's really difficult to be a high-pressure player as a bowler is when
22:59you're bowling the 19th and 20th over in T20 crickets. And then you're only tested for six
23:04balls, where batsmen get tested sometimes for 30 overs, like Williamson and Mitchell were tested
23:10in the previous game against India. They had 20 overs to bat at 10 and over. You're carrying
23:16there an hour and three quarters or hour and a half of pressure. That's a very different story
23:21to bowling one over. So there's not many of them around. There never have been many of them around.
23:26And every now and again, you get someone who is brilliant at that, like a Ponting,
23:31used to be like a Graham Smith was in test cricket, like a BBS Laxman was for India,
23:36particularly chasing in the fourth innings of test matches. And probably the modern day best
23:40example, you know, Steve Smith's good when it comes to, he's right up there with a high-pressure
23:45player. But at the moment, Virat's out in front. And you also told me that Dhoni is one high-pressure
23:51player. So if you compare these two, the stars of India, because one has played in the 2011
23:57World Cup, the other one is in the 2023 final. Vis-a-vis, how do you compare them if you have
24:03to compare them as a high-pressure player? Okay, that's a very good question. And that
24:07was my omission. MS Dhoni was very clearly one of them. The only difference between Dhoni and
24:13Kohli is Dhoni tended to be high-pressure and he would deliver towards the back end of the T20
24:18innings or in the last 15 overs, 10 to 15 overs of a 50-over game. The difference is Virat does it
24:25from sometimes inside of the 10th over and he does it for 40-plus overs. Dhoni was never really
24:30asked to do it for 40-plus overs. And that's what makes Virat particularly good. He's not any better
24:37or worse than Dhoni, but Dhoni always had to do it for a shorter period of time where Virat does
24:42it for a much longer and sustained period. Lovely, lovely. Excellent. That was very, very
24:48illuminating, Paddy. That's it from today and we wrap up our Cricket World Cup coverage with
24:55this particular episode. Thank you, Paddy. Thank you, Sai, for being part of this journey. It's
25:00been an excellent coverage for us. And thank you to our viewers for tuning in for time after time,
25:07episode after episode. Thanks, everyone. For the latest updates and breaking news,
25:12please log on to gulfnews.com and all our social media channels. And don't forget the
25:17rain coverage. We have the best coverage online. Head over to gulfnews.com.
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