- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday (11) gifted his Australian counterpart Marise Payne a cricket bat signed by ace India cricketer Virat Kohli during a visit to the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground after he went to the island-nation to take part in the fourth Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign minister’s meeting which involved foreign ministers of the US and Japan as well.
Jaishankar visited Australia’s largest sporting venue along with Payne, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Japanese foreign minister Hayashi Yoshimasa in a “fitting end to a busy day”.
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“Quad FMs visit the @MCG. Presented @MarisePayne with a bat signed by @imVkohli,” Jaishankar, who is in Australia on his first trip to the country as external affairs minister,” he said on Twitter along with a picture.
Jaishankar vows India-US rapport of 21st century
A fitting end to a busy day. Quad FMs visit the @MCG. Presented @MarisePayne with a bat signed by @imVkohli.
A message of fair play and rules of the game. pic.twitter.com/c3KrKdRq6G
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 11, 2022
“A message of fair play and rules of the game,” Jaishankar added, in an apparent message to China, which is flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region and the Quad is considered as a counter-weight to it.
Kohli, 33, captained India across all formats of the game till recently and is India’s most successful captain in Tests. He is also the first Indian captain to lead the country to a Test series victory Down Under. He stepped down from the captaincy in the longer format after India’s 1-2 loss to South Africa in their den.
Cricketing ties between India and Australia have always been robust besides strategic and economic and Jaishankar’s gift to Payne reiterated it.
