On Wednesday while speaking in a media event for his book ‘The Barefoot coach’ former Indian mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton disclosed that when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Anil Kumble had took over the captaincy of the Indian cricket team and the Test team they adopted a unique way to ensure that everyone reached on time for the training sessions and meetings.
Upton said, “When I had first joined the Indian team Anil Kumble was the captain of the Test team and Dhoni was the captain of the One-Day International team. We had a very self-governing process. So we asked the team ‘is it important to be on time for the practice and team meetings?’ Everyone said yes, so we instructed them that if anyone doesn’t turn up on time then there must be something one should give up on? We discussed it amongst ourselves and the players, and eventually it was left to the captains to decide.”
Further adding, he said, “Kumble had come up with a solution that every latecomer must be fined with Rs. 10,000 but Dhoni came up with something more interesting. He suggested that if a player is late, then the entire side would have to pay up Rs 10,000 each.” Since the decision was made final, no one turned up late for their practice sessions and the team meetings.
Dhoni has his own ways of dealing with situations that makes different from the rest.