Bengaluru, March 14: Dinesh Karthik feels that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has instilled a winning mentality in the Indian players over the years.

“The IPL has brought out a winning mentality in all our players. With the influx of money and the financial benefits that a lot of the teams receive, and in turn the stakeholders, much of it has been put back into infrastructure. So, when infrastructure grows, eventually the quality of sport develops as well,” he said in a conversation with Mo Bobat, Director of Cricket, RCB, and former England cricketer, Isa Guha, during the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit.

The former India wicket-keeper further added, “We can say that since the IPL has become a part of Indian cricket’s fabric, they can now field two to three teams in international cricket at the same time and almost compete with each one of them. Right now, India is in a very privileged place where they have such a good assortment of cricketers across skill sets.”

Reflecting on his experience of sharing a dressing room with Glenn McGrath in the early years of the IPL and how it shaped his approach to the game, “For me, the whole ideology of how Australia played at that time was a massive shock. They felt like a pack of wolves out to win every game. But with IPL, in my first year, I got to spend time with Glenn McGrath in close quarters and practice with him. I got to know him better and became comfortable, which helped the confidence and mindset of competing with the best,” he said.

The second edition of the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit Powered by Leaders will be held on March 14 and 15 in Bengaluru and is currently underway at the Padukone Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.

Along with cricketers Dinesh Karthik, Isa Guha, and RCB’s Director of Cricket Mo Bobat, international sports icon and RCB cricketer Virat Kohli, two-time Olympic medallist and former India hockey player PR Sreejesh, Jayant Chaudhary, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship are scheduled to attend the event.

New Delhi, March 14: Ahead of marking his return for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, young Australia all-rounder Cooper Connolly said he realised why Mohammed Shami is a world-class pacer when he was dismissed by him in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai.

Connolly was slotted into the team as an opener in place of injured Matt Short, as he was worked over by Shami’s mastery and eventually nicked off him for a nine-ball duck. In the bowling innings, after dropping Rohit Sharma at backward point, Connolly redeemed himself when he trapped the Indian skipper lbw and got his maiden wicket in international cricket.

“As a kid, you always want to represent your country, and to walk out there in a semi-final was an unbelievable experience, and I’ll take a lot of learnings from it. Shami is a world class player for a reason. He’s played a lot of cricket.

“In the end, it was a great game of cricket and I think we took a lot of learnings as a group from that. It’s the game of cricket. You’re going to miss out, you’re going to drop a catch – you’ve got to get on with what’s in front of you.

“That (drop off Rohit) was completely out of my mind by the time I was bowling, I was just trying to compete as much as I could and hopefully get a breakthrough for the team,” Connolly was quoted as saying by ICC on Friday.

Before being called up for the Champions Trophy, Connolly also made his Test debut for Australia on the tour of Sri Lanka, a moment he said will be forever etched in his memory. “Getting my Baggy Green and then to play a game in the Champions Trophy, it was a dream come true … hopefully there’s plenty more to come. I felt like it wasn’t really a surprise. I felt like if I was going to play, I’d earned my opportunity.”

Connolly signed off by saying he wishes to play more games for Australia in international cricket. “I guess it’s just about concentrating on what’s in front of me at the moment, not looking too far ahead, and just trying to enjoy playing cricket and hopefully put some scores on the board. Hopefully work on my bowling a bit and get an opportunity again. Obviously getting a little taste of it makes you want it more.”

New Delhi, March 13: Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that Ishan Kishan has the biggest opportunity to revive his career in the upcoming IPL 2025 after being picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the mega auction.

Chopra expressed his surprise at how Kishan has completely disappeared from the national selectors’ radar, despite his proven ability with the bat.

“For whatever reason, he has completely disappeared from the radar. It seems like no one is talking about him or understanding his importance. He even played in the Ranji Trophy and scored runs there, he is doing everything, but no one is even talking about him,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Kishan, who was released by Mumbai Indians (MI), was bought by SRH for Rs 11.25 crore in the IPL auction last November. However, SRH already has a strong opening combination in Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, who were among the most explosive openers last season. This means Kishan could be slotted into the No. 3 position, a role he has played occasionally but is not his natural position.

Despite scoring a record-breaking ODI double century (210 off 131 balls) against Bangladesh in December 2022, Kishan was dropped from the playing XI, with Shubman Gill preferred as the opener. Since then, he has struggled to find a place in the squad across all formats.

In the wicketkeeper-batter category, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Sanju Samson have been preferred over him in international cricket. Kishan also lost his BCCI central contract last year.

“You can come in reckoning once again. A keeper-batter who can open or bat in the top order, that is beautiful. Gautam (Gambhir) is anyway saying that they are all bogeys in a train; everyone has to go to the same destination, and it doesn’t make a difference whether a bogey is in front or at the back. That basically means batting order does not exist in Indian cricket anymore,” Chopra elaborated.