I am delighted to be able to confirm that Paddy Upton has agreed terms with the BCCI to join me as mental and fitness coach to the national squad.

Paddy and I have a connection going all the way back to school days and, of course, he was part of the South African national team as fitness trainer in the mid '90s while I was playing.

More recently we became business partners when we established Performance Zone 18 months ago, a business focusing on assisting people to improve both business and sports performance.

Our third partner in Performance Zone, master coach Dale Williams, will be looking after our business interests while we focus on Indian cricket. There are some exciting new projects we are working on and we'll tell you more about them in my next posts.

The most obvious question I have been asked about the beginning of my two-year contract has been about the fact that we are playing against South Africa. Whilst I appreciate the fascination and irony about the scheduling, I must say that everybody else seems far more fascinated by that aspect of the contest than I do.

To be honest, having spent three highly enjoyable and productive weeks with the Indian team in Australia, and having maintained almost daily contact with Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, I feel completely 'Indian' as we approach the series. I won't ever renounce my nationality, obviously, but I like to think of cricket as a completely professional game and I am a professional. But it goes beyond that. I feel passionate about the Indian team, and Indian cricket. The Indian team, given its numbers and resources, should be dominating world cricket. On the field as well as off it! I would love to be a part of that happening.

My time with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni and VVS Laxman- as well as the incredibly talented youngsters in the squad, has been invigorating and inspiring. I can't wait for the real stuff to begin.

We will continue to use this blog to keep you up to date on what is happening within our world. With the South Africans coming out to India in the next few weeks, our first challenge is going to take them on with the best that we have.

Thank you once again for your generous support and please pass this blog along to anyone wanting to follow our progress in India and keep up with the latest thinking in the world of performance.