Indian Army’s DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai on Monday addressed a joint press conference on India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan and made a surprising reference to ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, who retired from Test cricket earlier in the day. 

While addressing the press conference, 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. He mentioned 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. 

“Targeting 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 an Ashes series between Australia and England and two Australian pacers – Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee – who have a name in cricket history, destroyed the batting line-up of England. Australians came up with a saying – From Ashes to Ashes, from Dust to Dust, if Thommo doesn’t get ya, then Lillee surely must,” Lt Gen Ghai said.

“If you see the layers (of India’s air defence system), 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. 

#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

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. 

“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 targeted our airfield and logistic installation,” he added. 

As per ANI report, 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, the 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.

Virat Kohli Retires From Test Cricket

India’s batting stalwart Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, May 12. Kohli retired from Tests having scored 9230 runs from his 123 matches, with 30 Test centuries and 31 fifties and many other memorable innings across a glorious career.

Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India registered 40 wins from his 68 Tests, making him the most successful Indian men’s captain in the red-ball format, in terms of wins. 

The Sydney Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia in January will go down as the last game of his career in the longest format of cricket. He registered the scores of just 17 & 6 in that match. 

Kohli’s final dismissal as a Test batter came when he edged a delivery from Scott Boland to Steve Smith at slip during the Sydney Test earlier this year.