At briefing, Lillee & Thomson, Dinkar & Ramcharitmanas

NEW DELHI: In the 1974-75 Ashes series, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson raised hell on the pitch. The two fast men ran through the visiting Englishmen like hot knives into a pound of butter. The Aussie crowd sang teasing ditties. A Sydney Daily Telegraph cartoon captured the mood. "Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Thomson don't get ya, Lillee (surely) must," the caption went.

On Monday, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai drew on the much-cited rhyme to underline the impenetrability of India's integrated Air Command and Control System.

Ghai prefaced his remarks saying that a cricket analogy was appropriate on a day when Virat Kohli quit Test cricket. Thereafter, he made the point that incoming missiles or drones could not escape India's multi-layered and integrated air defence, just as the English batters couldn't get past Lillee and Thommo.

"If you see the layers, 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 bring you down," Ghai said.

Before the press conference, the Army played a video where passages from Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's epic poem, Rashmirathi, was used in the background.

Responding to a query on the choice and message of the poem, Air Marshal AK Bharti said, he will reply by reciting a few lines of Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas. "Binay na maane jaladhi jadh, bhay teen din beet/Bole Ram sakop tab, Bhay bin hoye na preet" (The ocean remained unmoved by humble requests; three days passed. / Then Lord Rama, with rising anger, declared: Without fear, there can be no love).