Do Not Run Him Out, Just Do Not Run Sachin Out: Aaron Finch Reveals His Thought Process While Opening With Sachin Tendulkar During The MCC vs ROW Match In 2014

Aaron Finch, Australian white-ball captain, recently went down memory lane and reminisced about his experience of playing alongside the likes of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and other legends of the game during the 2014 MCC vs Rest of the World XI game which was played to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the ‘Mecca of Cricket’ Lord’s.

Finch opened the innings alongside his MCC XI captain Sachin Tendulkar and according to him, his first thought at that time was to ensure he doesn’t run out the ‘God’ of cricket.

Finch said that it was probably the biggest gathering for a cricket match and Lord’s and with the large presence of Indian fans, he feared he may not get out of the stadium, had he ran out the Master Blaster.

“All I was thinking was – ‘Do not run him out, just do not run Sachin out’. I think it was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, crowd that Lords had ever had. It was a huge anniversary. Sachin is captaining one team and Warne is captaining the other. That was a huge, huge day.” Aaron Finch said on Sony Ten Pit Stop.

“And there was a huge Indian presence at the ground. They were very loud, the chance of watching Sachin at Lord’s. And I was just thinking that if I run him out, I may not be able to get out of Lord’s.” he added.

“That was an unbelievable experience of batting with Sachin, Dravid, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.” he added.

Also Read: Aaron Finch Awestruck By Virat Kohli’s Consistency Across All Formats

Aaron Finch blasted an unbeaten 181, stitching a 107-run-stand with Sachin Tendulkar

Aaron Finch also recollected the fact that it was his dream to watch Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist open the innings together, something that was fulfilled that day.

“Also on the other side was Gilly and Sehwag opening the batting, that is an absolute dream for me to watch them bat together. KP was there, Yuvi got a big hundred as well. It was such a great day, something I will never forget.” Finch said.

Yuvraj Singh touches feet of "God of Cricket" Sachin Tendulkar#MCCvsROW pic.twitter.com/iBq9RYZlcr

— शनाया (@Sinceere_Angel) July 5, 2014

The Australian white-ball captain added that although the game was played in hood fun, all the players, despite having been retired, were extremely competitive.

“It was good fun. All sportsmen are extremely competitive and no one wants to be shown up. When you talk about all-time great players, you had Sachin and Brian Lara batting in the top three. They are still very competitive people, they were switched on, they were very keen to do well. So all the chat was about cricket. And if Tino Best is bowling 90 miles per hour bouncers at you, your heart rate gets up and Sachin was the same. It was brilliant and it was great fun to play with him” Aaron Finch added.

Coming back to the match, ROW XI, on the back of a brilliant hundred from Yuvraj Singh posted 7-293 in 50 overs. Aaron Finch, however, responded with a whirlwind 181 off 145 to help the MCC XI romp home by 7 wickets.

Also Read: Aaron Finch Underlines His Plans To Succeed In The 2023 World Cup