Published: Jul 13, 2014, 01:58 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 15, 2014, 04:18 PM (IST)
Jul 13, 2014
Australian batsman Aaron Finch divulged some interesting details about his experiences with legends such as Sachin Tendulkar at the exhibition game between the Marylbone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Rest of the World (ROW) at the Lords Cricket Ground on the occasion of its bicentenary. The dashing opener, who smashed 181 of just 145 deliveries, was nervous about running the Master Blaster out during their 107-run opening stand.
“The thing that I was most nervous about, believe it or not, was running Sachin out. Because I knew I would not be allowed back in India, or out of London, if I ran Sachin out on a stage like that, in possibly the last competitive game of his career, said Finch, who attributed his outstanding performance, which included 23 fours and six sixes, to the presence of the likes of Tendulkar and Brian Lara.
“At the end of every over he (Sachin) would come up to me and go, ‘I think he’s trying to swing it’ or ‘Maybe he’s trying to get some movement off the seam. So he was very in-depth in the way he thought about the game and how he thought they were trying to get him out. Brian was a little bit different, he was more chilled out and didn’t like to talk a hell of a lot, so it was pretty hard to get too much out of him,” added Finch.
The icing on the cake was the moment when both Lara and Tendulkar walked up to the top-scorer with a request to sign a shirt for them. “You just never expect that to happen. Myself and Dan Vettori were weighing up the best time to get them to sign a shirt here or there, but when they walk up to you and ask to sign a shirt, that’s pretty special,” recounted the Victorian.
The whirlwind innings from Finch eclipsed Yuvraj Singh‘s 132 which propelled the ROW side to a respectable total of 293 for seven, which was overcome by MCC with seven wickets and 25 balls to spare.
