With a little help from the star power of Sachin Tendulkar, Malcolm Turnbull has wrapped up what he describes as a very productive visit to India.
The cricketer joined the prime minister in Mumbai on Wednesday to launch a sports partnership that will harness Australia's sporting expertise to help Indian athletes do better and encourage healthier lifestyles.
A star-struck Mr Turnbull accompanied the Little Master to see children taking part in programs already linking the two countries, the Naz Foundation, which is supported by Netball Australia, and the KOOH sports education platform that uses technology to provide training and progress monitoring for 200,000 students in 200 Indian schools.
Mr Turnbull said the formal sports partnership was a key priority for his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
"India wants to be more successful in elite sport, at the Olympic level, to have Olympic performance that matches its cricketing prowess ... but also to see that sport is more widely engaged in across the community," he told reporters in Mumbai.
"When (Mr Modi) sought to identify a country that could partner with India, he saw Australia as being the best candidate."
The first concrete initiative in the new partnership is Victoria University and the University of Canberra joining to help India establish its own national sports university, in the model of the Australian Institute of Sport.
Mr Turnbull has also invited India's team to train in Australia before the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The two countries will also build initiatives in athlete and coach training and development, sports science, sports governance and integrity, and grassroots participation.
