Dinesh Karthik, the former Indian wicketkeeper, said on Friday that the IPL has boosted Indian cricket so much that they could field two or three national teams of equal skill at once.
During a chat with Mo Bobat (Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Director of Cricket) and Isa Guha (former England cricketer) at the Padukone Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence, Karthik praised the IPL for changing how Indian cricket thinks and for improving its base.
Karthik said that the IPL has instilled a winning attitude in players. Because of the money coming in and the financial advantages teams and stakeholders get, there’s been a lot of reinvestment in infrastructure. So, as infrastructure improves, the sport gets better too.
He added that ever since the IPL became part of Indian cricket, they could field two or three international teams at the same time that could almost all compete with each other.
Right now, India has a great range of cricketers with all sorts of skills. Thinking back on his time in the locker room with Glenn McGrath in the early days of the IPL, and how it shaped his game, he said he was really struck by how the Aussies played back then. They seemed like a pack of wolves trying to win every match.
Spending time with Glenn McGrath up close, practicing with him, getting to know him, and feeling at ease really boosted my confidence and changed my approach to competing with the best.
