‘If Thommo don’t get…Lillee surely must…’: DGMO Lt Gen Ghai draws cricket analogy on robustness of India’s air defence

NEW DELHI: On the day star batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket, Indian Army’s DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai used cricket analogy to exemplify robustness of India’s air defence systems which stood test of time during the recent Pakistan aggression, saying that whatever the enemy’s intentions, some system of India’s layered grid will bring down the aerial threat before it reaches its intended target.

Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, who addressed a joint press conference on Operation Sindoor and India’s response to Pakistani aggression, said he watched news about Virat Kohli retiring from Test cricket and “like many Indians, he is my favourite cricketer”.

“Targetting our airfields and logistics is way too tough… I saw that Virat Kohli has just retired from test cricket; he is one of my favourites like so many Indians. In the 1970s, there was Ashes series between Australia and England and two Australian pacers – Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee – who have a name in cricket history, they destroyed the batting line-up of England. Australians came up with a saying – From Ashes to Ashes, from Dust to Dust, if Thommo don’t get ya, then Lillee surely must,” Lt Gen Ghai said.

“If you see the layers (of India’s air defence sysem), you’ll understand what I am trying to say. Even if you crossed all the layers, one of the layers of this grid system will take you down,” he added.

Referring to India’s multi-layered air defence system, Lt Gen Ghai said there was no chance Pakistan could’ve broken it and targeted an airfield or logistic installation.

#WATCH | Delhi | DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai says, “Targetting our airfields and logistics is way too tough… I saw that Virat Kohli has just retired from test cricket; he is one of my favourites. In the 1970s, during the Ashes between Australia and England, two… pic.twitter.com/B3egs6IeOA

— ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2025

“In our inventory, we have a unique mixture of Counter-Unmanned Aerial System, Air Defence Weapons and mediums of electronic warfare, and that is why you saw when Pakistan air force attacked our airfield and logistic installation on May 9 and 10, they failed to breach this strong air defence grid,” he said.

“You can see how many layers, counters, unmanned aerial systems, behind that shoulder-fired weapons and our vintage air defence weapons and our modern air defence weapons system. There was no chance that Pakistan could’ve broken our multi-layered defence system and target our airfield and logistic installation,” he added.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 to strike terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir in response to the ghastly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam last month in which 26 people were killed.

While India targeted terrorist infrastructure, Pakistan Army launched an aggression which India repelled in a focused and measured manner. Indian Armed Forces targeted airbases in Pakistan and inflicted significant damage on its military capabilities. (ANI)