London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is an avid cricket lover, took his admiration for the sport to a new level on Friday by joining the England team in a friendly net session to display his batting skills. The 43-year-0ld PM was noticeably thrilled to face off against legendary English pacer James 'Jimmy' Anderson, who recently took 700 seats in Test cricket, in the nets.
The viral video was uploaded by Sunak's own X handle, captioned, "Am I ready for the call up @englandcricket?" In the video, the British PM is seen speaking to Anderson, saying, "Well, actually, I knew I was facing you so I came here for a net session earlier this week, so I get some practice in, but I'm not entirely sure I was at the right speeds."
He also asked the English pacer to go a bit easy on him, to which Anderson replied, "We'll see how it goes". Sunak also interacted him some budding cricketers, clicking pictures and signing autographs, clearing having the time of his life. When the time came to face off against Anderson, Sunak managed to keep his own, playing some defensive shots. However, the PM was clean bowled by a spectacular delivery by a young cricketer at the venue.
"I'll just stay here for the rest of the day. So you tell the office I'll be back later," Sunak said after he applauded the boy who managed to clean bowled him. In response to the video uploaded on X, the England Cricket team replied in a hilarious manner by saying, "Not bad, perhaps a few more net sessions first."
The 41-year-old James Anderson recently achieved a rare milestone by getting 700 wickets in Test cricket and it may never be eclipsed by any other pacer in the generations to come given how the nature of the sport is changing its shape rapidly.
Meanwhile, Sunak on Friday announced that his government will invest 35 million pounds in grassroots cricket to help over 900,000 young people into playing cricket. The money will be used in the construction of 16 all-weather domes at the grounds hosting the T20 World Cup matches in 2026 and 2030. England and Wales will host the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be hosted by the UK and Ireland in 2030.
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