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In the final stopover of his trip to Australia, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) along with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott. The two were accompanied by cricketing stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and VVS Laxman from India and Dean Jones, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn Mcgrath Steve Waugh and Allan Border from Australia.
The ground can accommodate as many as 100000 spectators. This is second such instance in the last few months that Mr. Modi has visited historic venues. In September, he got an unbelievable reception at the Madison Square Garden in New York during his visit to the United States of America.
Gavaskar, who was part of the team that won a Test match at the MCG in 1981, said that not only has the political and diplomatic relations improved after the meeting but it has had a positive impact in the sporting relations between the two nations as well.
“This was more of a sporting event than a political event. It shows both India and Australia have close sporting ties. Our relations with Australia has greatly improved after our Prime Minister's visit here,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev said that it is not very often that sportspersons get called when two Prime Ministers are meeting and felt that the current generation should achieve more than what the past generation have.
“It is wonderful that two Prime Ministers meet and we, as cricketers, get to be part of it. It is very rare that any Prime Minister calls sports people.We would like close ties with Australia but on the field, it is all about playing hard and fighting hard. We can go for drinks in the evening once the match is over.Younger generation should achieve more than we did,” the 55-year-old said.
VVS Laxman, who enjoyed stupendous success against Australia during his playing days, said that he felt honoured to be in the company of the Prime Ministers of both the countries and was optimistic about India’s chances down under.
“I am honoured to be here with Indian and Australian cricket legends. But I am more honoured to be with two wonderful Prime Ministers. India have the potential to defend their World Cup title (in Australia). It is good the team is coming here for the Test series (starting December 4),” the Hyderabadi said.
Expectedly, it was difficult for both the Prime Ministers to not speak about the game.
The Australian PM Abbott was the first to make a reference about cricket at a joint press conference after the bilateral talks with Modi on Tuesday. The 57-year-old said that Modi has "runs on the board" to meet the aspirations of the people.
His Indian counterpart, Modi wasn't to be left behind, and said that the two countries should celebrate the legends of Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar together.
"We celebrate the legend of (Don) Bradman and the class of (Sachin) Tendulkar together," he said.
Modi wished the Australian team the very best for the World Cup and said that India was impressed by Australia’s fast bowling just like how they were impressed by India’s spin bowling capabilities. The 2015 Cricket World Cup will begin on February 14th at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch and the final will be played on March 29th at the MCG.
"We are impressed by Australian speed as you are charmed by the Indian spin until of course Shane Warne came along,” he said while addressing the Parliament in Australia.
Modi posted a selfie with his Australian counterpart on his Twitter page.
However, a day before his visit to the ground, Modi attended a breakfast meeting organised by the Queensland Prime Minster Campbell Newman. The man conducting the ceremony was none other than former Australian speedster and hometown boy Michael Kasprowicz.
“It was as if India's Gross National Happiness is Tendulkar,” Kasprowicz said.
Modi also received an overwhelming reception when he visited the Allphones Arena in Sydney. He had earlier tweeted saying he was looking forward to his visit to the MCG.
He also had a chance to meet former Australian pacer Brett Lee.
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