Gautam Gambhir was "Insecure, Negative And Pessimistic", coach Paddy Upton

[Gollum]

Paddy Upton who was our mental coach in 2011 WC. Also great success with our hockey team and Gukesh more recently. Never seen him use such strong words about any of his other players. 

 

This is from 2019. 

 

LINK

 

Gautam Gambhir, the former India opener, was "mentally the most insecure, negative and pessimistic" but that did not stop him from becoming one of the most successful batsmen of his generation, former mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has written in his newly-released book. Interestingly, the feisty former opener did not find the assertions hurtful. Gautam Gambhir, who is a now a politician, said that he is confident that there is "no sinful intention in Upton's views as he is a nice man and in any case his insecurities are well documented".

"I wanted myself and Indian team to be the best in the world. That's why I was not satisfied even after scoring 100 as it has been mentioned in Paddy's book. I see nothing wrong there. As a driven individual I have tried to raise the bar for myself alone," Gambhir responded.

In his book 'The Barefoot Coach', Upton discussed the mental toughness of elite sportspersons and how they react to situations.

"I did some of my best and least effective mental conditioning work with Gautam Gambhir, the International Test Cricketer of the Year' in 2009. I worked with him up until that time but I had little to do with him being named world's best cricketer," Upton writes in his book.

Upton recalled how the left-handed opener would be in "agony" even after scoring a hundred and stressing more on the mistakes he might have made.

Moreover, Upton wrote that no matter what he and then coach Gary Kirsten did Gambhir was "negative and pessimistic."

"Using popular notion of mental toughness, he was one of the weakest and mentally most insecure people I have worked with," Upton wrote.

"But at the same time, he was undoubtedly one of the best and most determined and successful Test batsmen in the world. Something he would prove yet again in 2011 World Cup final."

According to Upton, former captain MS Dhoni has "incredible emotional control".

"I would go as far as to say, with greatest respect for MS the man and the Cricketer, that it is not emotional control but the lack of access to emotions. MS is not wired as an emotional type. It's almost as if he doesn't have them; a performance enhancing gift from birth," Upton wrote.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2025 by Gollum

[putrevus]

He now has made everyone insecure and negative in dressing room.

 

 

[Gollum]

Think our players are affected by his negativity. Don't seem like a happy bunch, always stressed out, carrying fear of failure, swords hanging over their necks. 

 

No Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin to blame this time. 

 

10 test losses under GG in last 15 months, 5 at home (loss here is just a formality now) including 2 whitewashes, even Bangladesh would be ashamed of such a record.  

 

[vvvslaxman]

Gambhir has taken this "covering all bases" to the extreme by selecting players who can do a bit of both.  He massively compromised on our traditional strength which is batting especially in the absence of the most inform batsmen. instead of adding two batsmen extra he reduced one less.

[Gollum]

He should be fired on the spot, as soon as this test is over. Don't do the review drama again, 8 months before next test series, and all will be forgotten/forgiven by then. The damage this bastard has done to Indian cricket is probably irreversible....test cricket in India will die before we have a reversal in our fortunes. 

[Suhaan]

40 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Gambhir has taken this "covering all bases" to the extreme by selecting players who can do a bit of both.  He massively compromised on our traditional strength which is batting especially in the absence of the most inform batsmen. instead of adding two batsmen extra he reduced one less.

It will take years and other efforts to revive our batting strength again

I believe most of them have lost confidence,loosing and being part of so many losses at home at young age doesn't help

Look at Jaiswal he will be part of two back to back whitewashes that too at home 

 

[The Realist]

And to compound the mental ineptitude they appointed Rahul as ODI captain...

[Lord]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

He should be fired on the spot, as soon as this test is over. Don't do the review drama again, 8 months before next test series, and all will be forgotten/forgiven by then. The damage this bastard has done to Indian cricket is probably irreversible....test cricket in India will die before we have a reversal in our fortunes. 

 

That's what they are going for. No Tests for 8 months, prolly a final finish in WT20 will again secure his spot

 

Should be fired as red ball coach now. If we can have different captains, why not coaches