Number of other players in 'same boat' as Suresh Raina in IPL: Paddy Upton

Suresh Raina’s sudden departure from the Indian Premier League 2020 has made a lot of noise in the cricket circuit. Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has joined the discussion as well and he feels that the cricketers, who get motivated through external forces, are ‘really going to struggle’ in IPL 2020.

As the tournament has shifted to UAE amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire extravaganza will be played behind closed doors. The players will be inside a bio-secure bubble and several restrictions will be there as per the protocols set by the BCCI. The teams have reached the UAE four weeks before the first match and they have to stay away from any interaction from the outside world for 3 long months.

According to Upton, who has coached several teams across the T20 leagues including IPL, unexpected things could happen in this season and the teams, who will control the situation, well will do significantly better than the others.

“The big-match temperament players do well when the pressure is on when there are a lot of people around,” Upton said on ESPNcricinfo Newsroom. “The fact that you are gonna have games in front of empty stadiums now, you are just not going to have that level of pressure. Someone like Virat Kohli, will he still be as good when you take away that external stimulation and noise and pressure? You are gonna find players who normally fall over when the pressure gets high.”

“Athletes who are internally driven, who find the motivation from within themselves, they are going to be fine, they are going to do well.”

I don’t think money is a strong consideration for Suresh Raina: Paddy Upton

Upton also believes that the team management has to look after the players who thrive through external motivation to ensure that they are mentally prepared. He also feels that similar cases to Suresh Raina might occur in the near future. The southpaw pulled out of the 13th season of the IPL due to ‘personal reasons’ and left for India after 13 members of CSK were tested positive for COVID-19.

It later emerged that there were apprehensions about the bio-secure environment. Personal tragedy is also speculated to be one of the reasons for Raina’s call. “There are a number of other players who are very much in the same boat as Suresh Raina and I just hope that the teams are aware of that and are catering for that,” Upton said.

The former Indian coach also said that money can never become the sole motivation for players. He explained that Raina knew that he will be losing a large amount of money.

“There are very few players who when cross the rope are motivated by money,” Upton said. “Yes, it’s part of the motivation but I don’t think that’s a strong consideration for Suresh. So it’s probably not ideal to be drawing that analogy and saying. ‘look, how much money he is missing’. He knows that he has made a decision and we need to really respect that,” Upton concluded.