New Delhi, Jan 21: Unable to hide his glee over arch rivals Australia being trounced in the Perth Test, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today hailed the Indian cricket team for thrashing the world champions in the third Test.

''I congratulate the Indian cricket team for beating Australia in Perth two days ago. It was a fantastic performance,'' the British Prime Minister, who was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Delhi University today, told media persons here. The British Prime Minister has obviously not forgotten the 5-0 thrashing his team received at the hands of the Aussies in last year's Ashes series and he took this opportunity to lavish praise on the side that conquered the world champions.

Mr Brown, a known sport buff, apparently also knew about other Indian sportspersons apart from cricketers as he also praised archer Dola Banerjee's gold medal win in the World Championship last year .

''India has lot of potential and an example of this is the young woman who has excelled in archery. She won the world championship last year and has presented herself as a very good medal prospect for her country in Olympics,'' he said.

UNI