Dedicated to xxxdamonkatxxx
VIHAAN
I saw Rahul looking at his counterpart; his face covered in pure shock on seeing us both here. Poor guys, they had devised plans to break our S-R formula and they get us instead.
The match began, the runs increased rapidly while the account of the wickets was yet to be opened.
I saw the huge scorecard. It had a star marked on top of the forty-nine next Rahul’s name while I had forty-five with a star next to my name.
“Go for a bit hit.” I said to him when he came next to me while the other captain was deciding on whom to bring in next to bowl.
“I am taking a single and giving the strike to you. You can hit a six maybe.”
“Yeah right.” I said as I went back to my position and made sure that the tip of my bat was on the ground.
I saw Rahul look at the sky before the bowler came running in.
He hit the ball to the off-side; the ball went quite a distance, enough to get a single. I congratulated him and went to the striker’s end.
I saw the bowl come to me and I hit hard hoping that it doesn’t end up in the hands of the fielder next to the boundary. I was sure that it would go really close to it if not cross it. Well who does that to a batsman on the verge of a half-century so early in the innings? It was a loose ball and anyone could have scored the maximum off it as I did. The ball ended up on the stands taking my score to fifty-one.
The next ball came, I hit it hard enough to score a run, and within seconds, Rahul was on the striker’s end.
He walked half the distance and I covered the other half as he congratulated me. He had not got a chance to do so before the previous ball.
“Congrats bro, Coach’s experiment seems to be working”
“Yeah right, can we take it to the fiftieth over?”
“Maybe.” He said with a wink.
“Lets try.”
The rest of the innings went well with us finishing at a total team score of 383 for no loss. It was a dream come true for me. He finished at 169 while I scored 191.
“That was a dream run right?” Rahul asked as we went back to the pavilion amidst applauses.
“Absolutely.”
“Well done boys. I never expected this from you two. They had plans to break our S-R formula and we now have a brand new V-R formula.” Coach said to us.
“Next match they will have a plan for us too coach.” Rahul said.
“Then we can replace one of you. We can experiment in every match.”
“And it is okay to experiment if we win.” Rahul said and we all agreed.
I got time to relax and so did Rahul. The second innings began and Rishabh would manage the team until one of us went down.
NATASHA
Anya was in my office, we had planned to watch the match together.
“Hey Natasha.”
“Hi sir, this is my sister Anya.”
“I have seen her somewhere.”
“Yeah sir, at Ria’s wedding.”
“Yeah right. Nice to meet you anyways”
“Same here sir” she said with a smile
I was wondering what his reaction would be when he comes to know that she is Rishabh’s fiancée.
“Is it okay if she waits here till I finish my work?”
“It is absolutely fine Natasha; she can wait in your cabin.”
“Thank you sir.” I said to him.
“Are you ready for the chat show?”
“Yes sir. Everything is ready. Our guests will be arriving soon and we have about an hour for the programme to start.”
“Okay then. I will be in my cabin until seven. If you need something come to me.”
“Sure sir.”
Mr. Sharma went to his cabin and we went to mine. As I switched my TV on I saw Vihaan at 112 and Rahul at 105.
I was ecstatic while Anya was unhappy that Rishabh was not around. She would cheer up when the camera moved to the Indian camp.
“That was amazing.” I said as the last ball of the innings went to the gallery taking Vihaan to 191.
“Yeah it was.” She agreed.
“Ms. Malhotra, the guests are here.” One of the crew members said to me as I came out of my cabin.
“I was coming there.”
“Good evening Mr. Kumar and Mr. Arora.” I said shaking their hands.
“Good evening Ms. ?” Mr Kumar paused for my name.”
“Natasha, Natasha Malhotra.”
“Yeas Ms. Malhotra.” He finished.
“Shall we begin?”
“Sure.”
“Good evening to all the viewers of the mid match chat show. Let us take a look at the headlines first.”
-Indian openers score 383 runs in their opening match in the tri-series.
-Indian captain and vice- captain a wonderful opening pair.
“Onto the details- The new opening pair of Rahul Shukla and Vihaan Kapoor left the Indian fans wanting for more action as they rocked the grounds, each scoring 150 runs. Rahul Shukla the captain and Vihaan Kapoor the vice-captain of Team India opened together for the first time in an International match and the pair created wonders.”
“Tonight we have Mr. Mahesh Kumar and Mr. Rajat Arora, former national cricketers joining us on the studio to discuss about the Indian batting, welcome to the show sir” I said to them.
They both nodded.
“Mr. Kumar, what do you think made the Indian coach to take such a decision and change the working combination of Rishabh and Shyam from the opener position?”
“Coach Shah has always been famous for his experiments on the team, which always gives positive results. This might have been another experiment of his.” He said and I turned to Mr. Arora.
“What is your opinion Mr. Arora, could it have been because the other captain said that they had devised a plan to break the S-R combination?”
My questions continued for a while and we wrapped up the show fifteen minutes before the next innings started.
“That was good Natasha.” Mr. Sharma said as I attended his call.
“Thank you sir.”
“If you continue like this, you would be famous soon.
“Thank you so much sir. You made my day.” I was really happy to hear that from him.
“You seem to be very happy.” Anya commented as I entered my cabin.
“I really am, Mr. Sharma just praised my work.”
“That is really good news.”
“It is indeed, now let us go home. We will get some food on the way.”
“Call the restaurant and order some. We have exactly fifteen minutes to reach your house.”
“I can afford to be a little late as I am sure Vihaan won’t be coming down for another one hour maybe.” I said teasing her.
“But you would not do that. I won’t allow you to.” He said as she pulled me along with her to my car.
“Finally, home at the right time.” I said as I switched on the TV and found the men in blue coming down the steps.
“I want Vihaan to come down soon, so that he can get some catches and run outs too.”
“Yeah right, for the man of the match trophy.”
“Yup”
“I think there will be tough competition.” She said pointing to the screen. The opening bowler Raj had obtained a hat trick. The first three balls of the innings being wickets and Vihaan was no where around.
The wicket keeper stumped the first guy, the second was caught near the boundary by Rishabh and the third was caught leg before wicket.
“Raj should not get more wickets.” I said.
My prayers were answered. No more wickets fell till the twelfth over. I saw Vihaan and Rahul coming down together as the substitutes went back to the Indian bench.
The match progressed and Raj picked up another wicket. It was caught by Rahul this time.
The fifth wicket fell soon and I was happy that Raj did not get this one.
Raj came to bowl again and he bagged another wicket which thankfully was caught at slip by Vihaan.
The seventh wicket fell soon after, a direct hit from Vihaan ended things for the batsman.
Out of the remaining three wickets, two went to Raj and one guy was run out. The match ended by the thirty sixth over and India won by 183 runs.
Raj had two catches and six wickets in his kitty, Vihaan had 191 runs, a run out and a catch to his name while Rahul bagged 169 runs, two catches and a run out.
I was really tensed thinking about who the man of the match would be.
I saw Ronald interview Vihaan and Rahul about the match. Vihaan was not interested, probably because he knew that Ronald was there in my place. It could have been me interviewing him.
Rahul patiently answered his questions while Vihaan remained a silent spectator.
A little later the presentation ceremony began.
“Now I would like to invite Rahul Shukla, the winning captain tonight.” The commentator said.
“Congratulations Rahul.”
“Thank you”
“You guys played extremely well tonight. Batted well, bowled and fielded well, an all round performance.”
“Yeah, all I could say is that we did our home works well. You know batting here could be tough in a pitch like this. Vihaan and I was able to adapt to the situation well. They boys were all confident after the huge score and did their job very well in all the areas.”
“The new opening duo, comprising you and your deputy worked very well. What made you guys change the opening pair while the other two were doing well?”
“It was our Coach’s decision. He asked us to bat up the order and we did. He believed our talents and we proved him right.”
“You mean to say, it will be you both from now on?”
“It depends on the situation. We can’t predict the future. We will go with whatever is the best suitable for the team at that moment.”
“Okay. So congratulations once again and best of luck for the next match.”
“Thank you.”
“Now moving on to the most anticipated award of the night. I would like to invite Mr. Richard Spencer, the executive head of our main sponsor in the region.
Vihaan, Raj and Rahul were the only ones attending the ceremony from the Indian camp.
Man of the match should belong to any one of the first two. It was not Rahul for sure, because if it was him, the commentator would not be calling him again to speak. It should have been only Vihaan with Rahul out there.
“The only guy who deserves the award tonight is Mr. Shah, the Indian coach, but there is no provision to give the award to him. We had a tough competition tonight, even though it was a one sided match we had two 150 scores a six wicket haul and awesome fielding experienced. The problem is only one can get the award. The man of the match tonight is Vihaan Kapoor for scoring an unbeaten 191 accompanied by a run out and a catch.”
“Congrats Vihaan.”
“Thanks.”
“How do you feel? I mean you got the chance to open for the first time. You had to open with Rahul. You had to replace a wonderful opening pair. The opponents had challenged you guys and had very high pressure which you tackled very well.”
“Wonderful”
“I questioned you in five lines and you are offering me a single word in return?”
“I really feel good. I was able t do something for my team.”
“What do you have to say about the opening partnership you shared with Rahul?”
“Rahul is a wonderful person to bat with. I have always been comfortable batting with him. He understands his partner’s strengths, weaknesses, and bats accordingly. If I am in an explosive mood he takes it slow to ensure that we have wickets in hand and are on the safe zone else it is the other way around.”
“It was your first time as an opener in International cricket right?”
“Yeah, in my six year long career I have opened for the first time. I had previously opened the innings for a match in the domestic circuit. I enjoy batting at that position, but it is a risky position as your performance affects the total.”
“Congratulations again and good luck for the upcoming matches.”
“Thank you” He said.
After he received the check, he winked at the camera. I knew that was for me. Oh god I miss him like anything.
I tried calling him ten minutes later and he would not pick up the call. Anya was talking to Rishabh making me jealous.
Finally after a good half an hour my phone rang.
“Finally.” I said to him picking up the call.
“I am sorry. That brother in law of yours hid my phone before I came up and locked himself inside a bathroom.”
“Oh”
“Saw the match?”
“Do you expect me to say no?”
“Well, I believe you’ve watched at least the last 100 of the first 300 balls. I know you get a mini heart attack when you see me hit huge sixes, but still want me to hit them and I am sure you have not missed even a single ad after the 12th over. Am I right?”
“Absolutely.”
“See I know you very well.”
“Anyways I am happy that you dedicated it to me.”
“How do you know if I dedicated it to you or not?”
“Mr. Kapoor, the wink at last said it all.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah really.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I know that because you love me.”
“Yeah I love you”
“I love you too.”
“Hmm, how is life without me around?”
“Come on Vihaan, please do not ask me that. I am missing you like anything. come back soon.”
“I will, very soon.”
“Not too soon that you have to lose the series for it.”
“No, no, not that fast.”
“Okay”
We talked and talked until I fell asleep while he kept on talking.
A/N:
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