Modi simply bowled over the Australians

The fabricated headlines and stories spoilt what had been an extremely memorable three days down under, writes Sunil Gavaskar

November 21, 2014 12:14 am | Updated April 09, 2016 11:13 am IST

Melbourne: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott with legendary cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar during a function at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Kamal Singh  (PTI11_18_2014_000126B)

Melbourne: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott with legendary cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar during a function at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Kamal Singh (PTI11_18_2014_000126B)

It was a huge honour to be invited to be part of the dinner hosted by the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, for the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

It was the first time any Indian PM has thought of having sportspersons with him for an official visit to another country, and how successful it was will be known over the years as both India and Australia strengthen their ties and get even closer to each other. 

The commonality of interests and passions that both countries have are too well known to bear repeating, but the one point that I have made while being part of the India-Australia council and speaking at corporate events in Australia is the commonality of the English language.

Just about everybody in India understands and speaks English, which is not the case in China, and so it would be far easier to do business with India.

The honourable Prime Minister had got a standing ovation for his address to the Australian Parliament, and at the dinner at the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s Olympic room it was no different. The energy that he brought to the evening had to be seen to be believed.

Hands on the trophy Before that, though, there was the photo-op on the famed ground where the two Prime Ministers first posed with the ICC World Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Significantly, our Prime Minister had his hand on the World Cup and the Australian Prime Minister on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Both, of course, are currently in India’s possession.

When I mentioned to Modi that he had his hands on the right trophy, he laughed heartily. He knows that the World Cup comes every four years while the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is contested every other year, and so the World Cup is definitely more precious.

When he later presented a memento to Abbott, he explained the significance of the  charkha  and talked about the signatures of Kapil, Laxman and myself on the white balls on the trophy. It was left to Kapil to add that the third ball which carried our Prime Minister’s signature was the most important, as it carried the signature of the captain of India in its truest term!

Erroneous It was a memorable evening, and the euphoria was still there the next morning till I was jolted by the totally erroneous headlines attributed to me about my reactions to the Justice Mudgal committee report. I spoke to several channels about the significance and the honour of the evening and even accommodated questions on the just-released Justice Mudgal report, though it had nothing to do with the event at the MCG.

To wake up the next day to read fabricated headlines and stories was galling indeed. Having one’s words twisted is an occupational hazard, but manufacturing them doesn’t reflect well on the integrity of the people that did so. I did express my views that there should be zero tolerance with those involved in match-fixing.

I do understand the need for sensational headlines and stories to attract eyeballs, but surely they should be based on what has actually been said.

It spoilt what had been an extremely memorable three days down under.

The Indian players have a tough tour ahead, but if they are struggling to get wickets they should request the services of the Prime Minister.

He would bowl over the Aussies in a jiffy like he has done on his just-concluded visit.

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