'Innings defeat': Crowd erupts as CDS uses cricket analogy for India's Op Sindoor win over Pakistan (WATCH)

CDS Gen Anil Chauhan described India's success in Operation Sindoor as an "innings defeat" for Pakistan, highlighting the decisive nature of the operation.

India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday described the country’s military action in 'Operation Sindoor' as a resounding success, using a powerful cricketing analogy to drive home the scale of Pakistan’s defeat.

Speaking at an event titled ‘Future Wars and Warfare’ organised by the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Gen Chauhan responded to a question about the damage suffered by Pakistan during the operation. He said the mission was not over yet, calling the current situation a “temporary cessation of hostilities.”

India inflicted 'innings defeat' on Pakistan

“I will give a detailed kind of an answer on this,” Gen Chauhan said before launching into a sports comparison to illustrate India’s upper hand.

“Suppose you go into a football match and you win 4-2; he scored two goals and you scored four goals. So that's an even-sided match,” he said.

The CDS then shifted to a cricketing metaphor, underlining the decisive nature of India’s military advantage: “But suppose you go into a cricket test match and you win by an 'innings defeat', then there is no question of how many wickets and how many balls and how many players. It's an innings (defeat that has been inflicted).”

His remarks drew loud applause from the audience, clearly resonating with the scholars and students in attendance.

The term “innings defeat” in cricket signifies one team outperforming the other so thoroughly that the losing side is unable to even match the first innings score across both their innings combined—an apt illustration of what the CDS implied was a one-sided outcome in India’s favour.

On May 7, under Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces launched pre-dawn missile strikes on nine terror targets across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir — including Jaish-e-Mohammad’s stronghold in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke — in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.