India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a unique way of bonding with global leaders. Invited to the G7 meeting as a special guest, Modi has been having bilateral meetings with heads of state like French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the summit.
When PM Modi met UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he had an especially good news to convey to him. The meeting between the two leaders took place just after Ben Stokes had led the England team, almost single-handedly, from the jaws of defeat to one of their most famous Test wins. The Indian leader didn't miss this opportunity to break the good news to his British counterpart, according to India Today.
We don't know as yet what the instant reaction of PM Johnson was but he must have been extremely delighted. He was later also congratulated by the Australian PM Scott Morrison when the two leaders met on the sidelines of G7.
The victory over Australia was one of the finest ever that England have achieved in their legendary Ashes rivalry. Just the bare facts convey the enormity of the achievement. England were nine-down while still needing 73 more runs to win. Ben Stokes, then, engaged in a 76-run partnership with the no. 11 batsman Jack Leach to take his team home.
What made this spectacular performance from the English all-rounder special was that in the 76-run partnership he had for the last wicket, all but 2 runs were scored by him. What's more, these 74 runs were scored in just 45 deliveries by Stokes. Leach faced only 17 balls in the entire partnership and was brilliantly protected by his partner.
Ben used the popular formula of taking the strike on the first four or five balls of an over and then leaving just one or two deliveries for his colleague to deal with. Yet, the two batsmen also needed a great deal of luck to get to their target. There was a dropped catch in the deep as well as two missed run-out opportunities that kept England in the game. Lastly, Stokes was given not out by the umpire when he was plumb lbw and the decision wasn't altered because Australia had wasted their reviews on hopeless appeals.
There is another reason for the UK PM to rejoice in his team's victory. Apparently, he too played cricket in his college days at Oxford apart from rugby. Perhaps, PM Modi knew of this fact and also the importance of Ashes cricket when he decided to give his counterpart the good news.
