‘He runs like a rat who runs after the cheese’: Dinesh Karthik recalls an anecdote on Tendulkar’s running between the wickets
Dinesh Karthik recalled an incident during commentary on Day 3 of the fourth Test match between India and Australia in Ahmedabad. He narrated an incident when he went on to watch his first Test match with his father in which a stranger described Sachin Tendulkar’s running between the wicket to a “rat who runs after the cheese.”
“I know vividly. In 1998, my dad took me for the first time to watch a Test match, India vs Australia. I had come to watch one batsman, Sachin Tendulkar. The person sitting next to me, a stranger in the crowd said, ‘you will enjoy watching Sachin Tendulkar bat. But also don’t forget his swift running between the wickets. He runs like a rat who runs after the cheese, but the only difference being he doesn’t get trapped. I remember these lines very vividly,” Karthik said during the commentary.
“Sachin got 155. What an innings that was, I’ll never forget it. So many sixes, one of them came right where we were sitting. We were sitting between long-on and deep midwicket. Great memories,” he added.
India won the match in 1998 in Chennai by 179 runs and later the series three-match series 2-1. The hosts have been dominant in the Test series against Australia over the years in home conditions. Coming into the fourth Test of the ongoing series Australia trails the series by 2-1.
Young Shubman Gill justified his inclusion in the playing XI with a composed half-century as India scored at a fair clip to reach 129 for one at lunch on the third day. India is still 351 runs behind Australia’s first-innings score of 480.
India lost the wicket of their skipper Rohit Sharma (35 off 58 balls), who let slip a golden opportunity to get a big score on the best batting surface of the series. Gill (65 batting, 119 balls) and Rohit added 74 runs for the opening wicket.
Sharma looked in good flow as he pulled a Mitchell Starc behind square for a six and ran well between the wickets…
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