NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday used a cricket analogy to describe the evolution of India’s foreign policy. He also described the changing nature of India-Pakistan policies towards each other with the progression of the former’s defensive policy to a more proactive one towards the latter.
Speaking at the release of former Indian cricketer Mohinder Amarnath’s memoir ‘Fearless’, Jaishankar said, “You said you played them better because from the traditional side-on position, you now move to an open-chested position. I couldn’t have found a better description for a Pakistan policy that time.”
“From traditional to open-chested position…” EAM Jaishankar’s cricket analogy draws applause
Highlighting several key lessons from the book that resonate with country’s foreign policy, Jaishankar said, “The first takeaway is that the world is intensely competitive, but respect is earned. So the same Clive Lloyd in 1976, who did not spare any of you from body line bowling, was also the fielding captain who was generous enough to declare that pitch unfit in 1983. And that, in many ways, was respect earned.”
“I think nobody has any doubt that 1983 was the inflection point. It was not just the inflection point, but the man of the match of the inflection point. Pakistan won it at one point and Sri Lanka won it at one point. But nowhere else was it as big an inflection point as it was in the history of cricket. Because, if you look at India’s role in world cricket after 1983, it fundamentally changed,” he said.
Mohinder Amarnath played for the Indian national team from 1969 to 1989, amassing 4,378 Test runs, with nine of his eleven centuries coming overseas.
He was named man of the match in both the semi-final and final of India’s 1983 World Cup victory. In recognition of his contributions, he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1984 and also received the prestigious Arjuna Award that same year.