'Under Captain Modi, Net Practice Starts At...': Jaishankar Reveals How Govt Works Under PM. WATCH

Captain Modi, according to the external affairs minister, also granted his comrades some leeway and trusted them to cope with a specific scenario.

EAM S Jaishankar at Raisina Dialogue.

Source : Twitter/@ANI

Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a cricket team captain, saying he gives his bowlers freedom while expecting them to take wickets, news agency PTI reported.

According to Jaishankar, Modi's ability to make difficult decisions was on show when India opted to declare a lockdown following the Covid outbreak, increase vaccine production, launch an immunisation campaign, and assist nations in need of vaccines.

"With Captain Modi, there is a lot of net practice. The net practice starts at 6 o'clock in the morning and goes on till fairly late," Jaishankar made the remarks at an interactive session with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former England cricketer Kevin Pieterson at the Raisina Dialogue.

#WATCH | EAM Dr S Jaishankar invokes Cricket analogy, says, "With Captain (PM) Modi the net practice starts 6 in the morning and goes on till fairly late...He expects you to take that wicket if he gives you the chance to do it." pic.twitter.com/zKh1XoRAiq

— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023

Captain Modi, according to the external affairs minister, also granted his comrades some leeway and trusted them to cope with a specific scenario.

"If you have a particular bowler you have trust in or you have seen perform, you would give them the latitude, you throw the ball to them at the right moment. You trust them to deal with that particular situation," he said.

"In that sense, Captain Modi does give his bowlers a certain amount of freedom. He expects you to take that wicket, if he gives you the chance to do it," Jaishankar said.

He also recalls witnessing the prime minister make difficult decisions three years ago during the Covid outbreak.

"All of us, if we look back for the past three years, the decision to lockdown was a very very tough decision. But, it had to be taken at that point of time. If we now look back, what would have happened if we had not taken that decision," Jaishankar said.

The minister remembers working closely with Blair to assure the availability of raw ingredients for the manufacture of AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccines.

Another difficult decision, according to Jaishankar, was to provide vaccinations to almost 100 countries while there was widespread scepticism within the country.

"It was a tough call. Whether it is sports or any competitive situation it is the willingness to take the difficult call, stand by those calls, give the people the confidence that you will stand by them when they take the risks. This is all about competition and leadership," the minister said. 

(With Inputs From Agencies)