“Losses Don’t Matter, Outcome Does”: CDS Gen. Anil Chauhan Defends Operation Sindoor, Draws Cricket Analogy

Pune: In a bold and metaphor-rich statement, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan drew a comparison between cricket and combat to assert the Indian Armed Forces’ clarity of mission and resilience, amid debates around Operation Sindoor. Speaking at Savitribai Phule Pune University on Tuesday, he said:

“Suppose you go in a cricket test match, and you win by any means, then there’s no question of how many wickets, how many balls and how many players.”

With this analogy, Gen. Chauhan sought to silence critics questioning the reported losses India faced during Operation Sindoor, a swift and strategic retaliation to the brutal Pahalgam terror attack.

“Losses are not important. What matters is the outcome of the operation,” he stated, underscoring the professional ethos and outcome-oriented approach of the Indian military.

Operation Sindoor is seen as part of India’s evolving military doctrine, following the 2016 Uri surgical strikes and 2019 Balakot airstrikes. The operation targeted terror camps across the border and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), signaling a shift in India’s response to cross-border terrorism.

Gen. Chauhan issued a strong warning to Islamabad, saying: “The aim is clear — state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan has to stop. India is not going to live under the shadow of terror and nuclear blackmail.”

He emphasized a strategic shift in how India approaches asymmetric warfare: “We’ve drawn a new line in military operations. We’ve connected terrorism to critical resources — like water — and shown that the strategy to bleed India by a thousand cuts will no longer go unanswered.”

The CDS also addressed the importance of continuous improvement within the forces: “As professionals, we understand and rectify our mistakes — we do not sit back with setbacks.”

He concluded by noting how modern warfare increasingly involves politics, technology, and media narratives, and warned of the risks in deploying new technologies, many of which were tested in combat for the first time.