Miracle Men

Childhood friends,business partners and now the backroom boys with a knack of shepherding cricket teams to the top of the world. Bharat Sundaresan explains how Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton transformed a set of underachievers into world beaters. Twice.

Childhood friends,business partners and now the backroom boys with a knack of shepherding cricket teams to the top of the world. Bharat Sundaresan explains how Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton transformed a set of underachievers into world beaters. Twice.

Paddy Upton claims it’s a sortie he’ll never forget. Here were in his words two hillbillies from Cape Town setting upon a journey into the unknown to take up arguably the toughest assignment in world cricket. Upton was in a role that was new to cricket while childhood buddy Gary Kirsten was coaching a team,at any level,for the first time.

Little did the two know that three-and-a-half years later they would return home to familiar climes having wooed about a billion hearts only to face up to another tough challenge.

They ended up guiding South Africa to the pinnacle in all three formats of the game. In the process the duo earned a reputation of being the Midas men,who could magically transform teams.

Rewind to early 2008. Awaiting Upton and Kirsten on the other side of their flight was a dressing-room housing highly-decorated motley crew of egos. And an Indian team smarting in the aftermath of a controversy-ridden tour to Australia that had almost brought diplomatic relations between the two countries to a standoff.

The previous foreign coach had been much disliked and malignedaccused of having created divisions in the team. The alarm bells weren’t quite ringing as such for Indian cricket. The team was placed in the higher echelons of the rankings across all formats. But of late had turned into one that could play itself into commanding positions but lacked the killer punch to make the most of them.

Enter Upton and Kirsten with their own unique untested formula for success. By December 2009,the team had climbed to the summit of the Test rankings. And 18 months later,India were World champions.

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In three years since arriving here wonder-eyed,Upton and Kirsten had helped Indian cricket realise their potential.

It seemed only natural that the now venerated duo would be front-runners for taking over the reins back home at a time of turmoil in South African cricket,post the 2011 World Cup.

The Proteas were reeling in the aftermath of another ‘choke’ exit from the World Cup. The swords were out for beleaguered skipper Graeme Smith.

South African cricket was in need of a serious boost. A team which seemed to be in constant denial of their choking troubles.

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It was an assignment that must have felt closer to heart for Kirsten and Upton. But they returned home still strangers in a setup where previous coaches much similar to the Indian conundrum had never gotten a free reign at the top.

The similarities involved with their tasks at hand at the time of taking over were uncanny.

Two multicultural outfits. Two countries where cricket is influenced as much by external factors as performances on the field. Two teams seeking a mantra to overcome the final hurdle from the zenith a sense of ruthlessness.

Of talent there was no dearth whatsoever. Just like India,South Africa were blessed with some of the world’s most established and experienced batsmen in their line-up.

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A bunch of seniors at the peak of their powers but lacking a sense of motivation and purpose resulting in the incoming young talent feeling a tad bereaved.

Under Kirsten and Upton,India found a leader of unparalleled sagacity and aplomb in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. And he blossomed under them. Just like an under-pressure yet self-confident Smith rediscovered himself under their auspices. Both skippers eventually lifting the mace signifying their ascent to the top of the world.

The relationship between the two friends of course goes back to the days Upton was South Africa’s first-ever fitness trainer back in the 1990s and Kirsten a dogged left-handed opener.

The two then also were business partners at their cricket academy in Cape Town before joining forces to tackle more monumental challenges. Kirsten’s first appointment after being named as India’s coach in 2008 was to bring in Upton. The rest as they say is history.

A common theme

Leading fast bowler at the peak of his powers:

Zaheer Khan and Dale Steyn

Mercurial spinner:

Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir

Inspirational Skipper leading from the front

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Graeme Smith

Prolific and experienced middle-order

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Rahul Dravid,Sachin Tendulkar,VVS Laxman/Hashim Amla,Jacques Kallis,AB de Villiers

Emergence and rediscovery of tall,lanky pacer

Ishant Sharma/Morne Morkel