Gary Kirsten sought to distance himself from a controversial dossier, saying he had no role in drafting the document.
India’s cricket coach Gary Kirsten broke his silence on Friday, two days after a four-page preparatory dossier to the team became public knowledge. In a statement to the media, he denied that he had encouraged the players to indulge in sexual activity in the run-up to the Champions Trophy to boost testosterone levels and thus improve performance.
The report, he said, was merely to provide players with information and was not to be considered an advisory.
Kirsten further distanced himself from the dossier saying that it was Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning expert attached to the Indian cricket team, who had compiled the article, not him.
The coach, accompanied by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and team manager Anurag Thakur, arrived at the media briefing on the eve of India’s first match of the tournament, which will be played against archrivals Pakistan on Saturday.
Before reporters could grill him on the controversial advisory, Kirsten took the initiative and said, “I want to make a statement.”
A stern-looking Kirsten, who had stayed mum on the issue so far, said, “My family and I have been deeply offended and hurt by the allegations that I encouraged the Indian players to engage in sexual activity before a match. I would like to state that I have never … and I repeat, never, encouraged or told the team or any player to engage in any form of sexual activity. These allegations are absolutely not true and completely against my religious and moral beliefs.”
He added: “The leaked articles was compiled by Paddy Upton and provided information for the players on the relationship between sexual activity and sports performance. I never wrote the article and read it for the first time two days ago. It has never been or never will be part of team strategy.”
Dhoni refused to comment on how the players reacted to the report.
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