Mumbai Indians strength and conditioning coach Paul Chapman (left). - Mumbai Indians screen grab
Dubai - The Australian is the strength and conditioning coach of defending champions Mumbai Indians
Published: Thu 10 Sep 2020, 7:28 PM
Updated: Thu 10 Sep 2020, 9:34 PM
Fitness has taken precedence in Indian cricket more than ever, thanks to a certain Virat Kohli and so has been the case with domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Mumbai Indians owe their success to their team of super stars, with a nice blend of local talent.
Rohit Sharma's men have been the team to beat in the world's richest and most popular league with four titles, the most by any franchise.
And while credit should duly be given to the players, there is a whole army of backroom staff, the unsung heroes, who help them to go out and perform at the highest level.
And one among them is Paul Chapman, the team's strength and conditioning coach. As the Mumbai Indians gun for a fifth IPL title this season, Chapman is making sure that the lads are fighting fit.
Former Indian cricketer Robin Singh, who is the batting coach of the franchise and also the UAE coach, paid a glowing tribute to the Australian's work ethic.
"He is somebody who is a pretty hard taskmaster," said Robin.
"He is somebody who likes to do things with a lot of perfection. His knowledge is massive. And in our set-up, he is somebody who has literally controlled the training aspect," added the former all-rounder, who featured in 136 ODIs and one Test for India.
Chapman previously worked at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) from 2008 to 2010 and helped former Indian captain Rahul Dravid in the twilight years of his career.
Apart from Robin, new recruits Prince Balwant Rai Singh and Digvijay Deshmukh, who were picked up for $28,000 each during the auction last December, praised Chapman.
"He is a very interesting character. Training with him should be quite enjoyable and a good learning experience. There will be a lot of improvement," said Prince Balwant Rai Singh.
"Chappie's training regime is quite tough. He doesn't stop till the time we drop! Whenever there is an exercise to do, Chappie first shows us himself what to do and what not to do. He makes sure that our form and our posture is correct before we do any of the exercises," the 21-year-old all-rounder added.
Deshmukh, who is a 22-year-old fast bowler, is happy that he can get top-level training.
"I'd heard from many people that his drills are very hard and that he is very unrelenting. I came prepared for that. And I am very happy that I'm getting the kind of training that I needed," said Deshmukh.
"The higher levels that we aspire to reach, he is training us to get there. He's the best," he added.
The man himself is thrilled to work with the boys and is eager for the tournament to begin.
"I'm very excited. Great to have them in here. Good to get underway, get the tournament going," said Chapman.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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