Recalling his unbelievable innings that helped India pull off victory in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh in Colombo, Dinesh Karthik says he was awaiting such an opportunity, where he could take the team through when no one expected in order to prove himself to everyone.
Karthik had just made a comeback into the Indian team after showing terrific form in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The right-hand batsman was curiously sent in as late as No.7 in a chase of 167 on a flat wicket. Undeterred by that, Karthik scored a remarkable 8-ball 29* to take the side through, hitting a last-ball six.
"I was waiting for such a moment like that to prove myself. I had been practising a lot to face a chance like this. When the real situation came to go through that I think it was fun at that stage. Lots of it happens in an auto mode," said Karthik on Star Sports 1 Tamil show 'Mind Masters'.
"As you practice a lot and when you are at that stage you know what you need to do. I had belief that we would win that match, it was 2 overs 34 runs to win, and I still thought that I could win this game for the team," added the wicketkeeper batsman, who has taken his power-hitting to another level these days.
Karthik, meanwhile, present on the 'Mind Masters' show with his wife and Indian squash professional Dipika Pallikal, also talked about how much mental toughness is important for an athlete.
"To sum up mental toughness, it's the ability to stay in the present consistently," said the 34-year-old, having seen a lot of ups and downs throughout his career.
"So that whenever you face tough situations, you will get lots of random thoughts but most importantly if you can focus on what you need to do right now and consistently get that right, more often than not you will be victorious."
"All successful players have gained that strength over a period of time."
Dipika, who herself had quite an inspirational turnaround in missing the 2010 Commonwealth Games to making a dream return in the 2014 Glasgow Games, stressed upon need for mental conditioning of players.
"I got to world number 20 very fast and I was stuck there for a long time and at that point I didn't believe in a mental coach but to get to world number 10 you have to do a lot of different things, not just run on the tracks, not just follow fitness programs, not just play squash," she said.
"I think a lot of outside things have to be implemented in your game and the reason why I got from 20 to 10 in the world was definitely just because of the mental skills training that I did."
"And a lot of athletes have not explored that area because I don't think it's a very big topic in India as such. I think when you train your mind at a very young age you do get results at a very young age as well," Dipika added.
(Inputs from IANS)
