<p>Bengaluru: There’s very little doubt that India are the supreme force in limited-overs cricket today. They annexed their record third ICC Champions Trophy recently and hold the T20 World Cup title as well. In the ODI World Cup in 2023, they won all games before suffering heartbreaking loss in the final. Their record in the three global showpiece events is a jaw-dropping 23 wins and one defeat.</p>.<p>Former India star Dinesh Karthik, who got a ringside view to those mesmerising performances in India, the Americas and Dubai as a commentator, said ‘sky is the limit’ for this all-conquering bunch. “The beauty with this Indian team is the strength and depth that they have in terms of the number of players that they've got. Not many countries at this point of time can say that they can field two to three teams in international cricket and almost compete with each one of them,” the Royal Challengers Bengaluru mentor said during the Indian Sports Summit hosted by RCB Innovation Lab at the Padukone–Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here on Friday.</p>.Injured Bumrah likely to miss initial rounds of IPL 2025.<p>“India right now is in a very privileged and blessed place where they have such a good assortment of cricketers across skill sets that they could easily compete for the next decade or so considering the factory that the IPL and the Indian domestic cricket are producing. The value in terms of understanding pressure, the big moments, that to this Indian team is what makes them really special. This Indian team in the last nine months has won two massive competitions. So I think sky is the limit for them.”</p>.<p>Time and again players have spoken about how IPL has been a great platform to harness their skills and Karthik, with RCB’s Director of Cricket Mo Bobat by his side in a session moderated by former England cricketer Isa Guha, too praised the cash-rich league for changing the mental attitude of Indian cricketers.</p>.<p>“I think for a long time, Team India as a cricketing nation used to be happy just competing. But now that attitude has changed to we want to win. That's what IPL has done. The mindset and the confidence in the players, that has grown over time. </p>.<p>“I debuted in 2004. For me the whole ideology of how Australia played at that point of time was a massive shock. They just felt like a pack of wolves which were out to win every game. But come the IPL, when a lot of Australian players got picked up by other franchises, you (got to) rub shoulders with them.</p>.<p>“I got the opportunity at that stage, in the first year, to play with Glenn McGrath. Now he, unluckily for me, is the first bowler I faced when I made my Test debut. But when I met him in close quarters and I could rub shoulders with him, practice with him, it almost is a case of familiarity breeds contempt. I got to know him so much better that I became comfortable with him. The awe factor about them reduced a bit. And that really helped in the confidence and mindset of competing against the best. So you're almost demystifying the Australians.”</p>.<p>******************</p>.<p>The 17th edition of the IPL is set to start on March 22 and Karthik had a word of advice for youngsters, stay off social media. We live in a world of social media validation, more than from the people who really matter, and Karthik felt that could be detrimental for an athlete, who he felt should instead focus on one’s own performances. </p>.<p>“I've been extremely popular and famous thanks to RCB, so I don't have a problem with the social media fan following. But the fact is that you want to not validate yourself. That's a character trait. You need to understand and distance yourself between what that popularity is doing for you versus how you treat yourself as a person. So that comes with maturity. As long as you're mature, you understand what that means in your life, it's very easy to deal with it.</p>.<p>“The moment you use that as a validation for everything that you do in your process, it can be a very tough place because the one thing that is guaranteed in sport, you end up seeing a lot more failures than success. They want to obviously see who's sent what, what's happening, who's messaged me, everything. That dopamine effect lasts for a very short period. And it's okay to understand and accept that on a good day people will praise you. But on a bad day, it might not go your way. Sometimes it's just good to get off social media, I think.”</p>
<p>Bengaluru: There’s very little doubt that India are the supreme force in limited-overs cricket today. They annexed their record third ICC Champions Trophy recently and hold the T20 World Cup title as well. In the ODI World Cup in 2023, they won all games before suffering heartbreaking loss in the final. Their record in the three global showpiece events is a jaw-dropping 23 wins and one defeat.</p>.<p>Former India star Dinesh Karthik, who got a ringside view to those mesmerising performances in India, the Americas and Dubai as a commentator, said ‘sky is the limit’ for this all-conquering bunch. “The beauty with this Indian team is the strength and depth that they have in terms of the number of players that they've got. Not many countries at this point of time can say that they can field two to three teams in international cricket and almost compete with each one of them,” the Royal Challengers Bengaluru mentor said during the Indian Sports Summit hosted by RCB Innovation Lab at the Padukone–Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here on Friday.</p>.Injured Bumrah likely to miss initial rounds of IPL 2025.<p>“India right now is in a very privileged and blessed place where they have such a good assortment of cricketers across skill sets that they could easily compete for the next decade or so considering the factory that the IPL and the Indian domestic cricket are producing. The value in terms of understanding pressure, the big moments, that to this Indian team is what makes them really special. This Indian team in the last nine months has won two massive competitions. So I think sky is the limit for them.”</p>.<p>Time and again players have spoken about how IPL has been a great platform to harness their skills and Karthik, with RCB’s Director of Cricket Mo Bobat by his side in a session moderated by former England cricketer Isa Guha, too praised the cash-rich league for changing the mental attitude of Indian cricketers.</p>.<p>“I think for a long time, Team India as a cricketing nation used to be happy just competing. But now that attitude has changed to we want to win. That's what IPL has done. The mindset and the confidence in the players, that has grown over time. </p>.<p>“I debuted in 2004. For me the whole ideology of how Australia played at that point of time was a massive shock. They just felt like a pack of wolves which were out to win every game. But come the IPL, when a lot of Australian players got picked up by other franchises, you (got to) rub shoulders with them.</p>.<p>“I got the opportunity at that stage, in the first year, to play with Glenn McGrath. Now he, unluckily for me, is the first bowler I faced when I made my Test debut. But when I met him in close quarters and I could rub shoulders with him, practice with him, it almost is a case of familiarity breeds contempt. I got to know him so much better that I became comfortable with him. The awe factor about them reduced a bit. And that really helped in the confidence and mindset of competing against the best. So you're almost demystifying the Australians.”</p>.<p>******************</p>.<p>The 17th edition of the IPL is set to start on March 22 and Karthik had a word of advice for youngsters, stay off social media. We live in a world of social media validation, more than from the people who really matter, and Karthik felt that could be detrimental for an athlete, who he felt should instead focus on one’s own performances. </p>.<p>“I've been extremely popular and famous thanks to RCB, so I don't have a problem with the social media fan following. But the fact is that you want to not validate yourself. That's a character trait. You need to understand and distance yourself between what that popularity is doing for you versus how you treat yourself as a person. So that comes with maturity. As long as you're mature, you understand what that means in your life, it's very easy to deal with it.</p>.<p>“The moment you use that as a validation for everything that you do in your process, it can be a very tough place because the one thing that is guaranteed in sport, you end up seeing a lot more failures than success. They want to obviously see who's sent what, what's happening, who's messaged me, everything. That dopamine effect lasts for a very short period. And it's okay to understand and accept that on a good day people will praise you. But on a bad day, it might not go your way. Sometimes it's just good to get off social media, I think.”</p>