Sydney, Oct. 16 (ANI): As Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave a "special honour" to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar during her first trip to India, she reportedly resisted suggestions to pick up the bat and ball and play the game, to avoid embarrassing herself.
She said watching John Howard years ago convinced her that she should not "succumb to playing cricket in front of the TV."
Former prime minister and life-long cricket tragic John Howard had famously hit headlines around the cricketing world for all the wrong reasons back in 2005, when he struggled to bowl a half-decent ball on a dusty plain in Pakistan, the Herald Sun reports.
According to the paper, Howard made several cringe-worthy attempts before giving in. This delighted young earthquake survivors he played with that day in the Neelam Valley.
"I knew I could not get out of it," Howard had said later.
Many have subsequently argued that the footage of his poor attempt at backyard cricket later bounced him out of a job with the International Cricket Council.
Gillard, who did not budge to indulge in swinging a bat, said the honor given to Tendulkar was rarely conferred on non-Australians. (ANI)