Karthik, right, with RCB’s director of cricket Mo Bobat and Isa Guha.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said that the present Indian white-ball side can dominate world cricket for the next decade and more.
Speaking during a session moderated by former English cricketer Isa Guha at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit here on Friday, the 39-year-old, also Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s mentor, felt that this was a direct consequence of the quality of the IPL and strength of domestic cricket.
“Not many countries can say that they can field two to three international teams and compete with any of them,” said Karthik, who was in the XI when India won the Champions Trophy in 2013 and behind the mike as a broadcaster last Sunday when India triumphed in Dubai.
“India is in a privileged place with an assortment of players across skills-sets. In the last nine months, they have won two massive competitions (T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy). Sky is the limit for them.”
Karthik credited the IPL for bringing about a revolution. “For a long time, India was happy to just be competing. That attitude has changed to ‘we want to win’. And with the influx of money, a lot of it has been put back into the game. When the infrastructure grows, the quality develops.
“I debuted [in international cricket] in 2004. For me, the ideology with which Australia played was a massive shock. They had high skill and they just felt like a pack of wolves out to win every game.
“Come the IPL, I got the chance to play with Glenn McGrath. I got to know so much about him that I became comfortable. The awe factor reduced and that really helped compete against the best.”
RCB will now hope for a similar shift in its own mentality. “We are a big brand but that IPL trophy has been elusive,” said Mo Bobat, RCB’s director of cricket. “You only have to be in Bangalore for five minutes to be reminded of that.”
“But that’s a good example of something you have to walk towards. A big part of the [ongoing] preparations is to keep players excited by the opportunity and not see the threat of what could go wrong.”
Published – March 14, 2025 08:40 pm IST