It was two weeks before the qualifiers began. Ali was facing Nakul in the nets. He stood calmly, in a batting stance.
"Next ball, cover drive!" Screamed Shastri.
Nakul bowled a fast, straight ball, which Ali played a fast cover drive on. The ball hit the side of the net.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the pitch was the assistant coach giving the team some fielding practice.
"Come on, be quick! Catch every ball!" Roared the coach.
It was 6am at the practice pitch, so not many people were there. But there was one girl.
She was looking at Ali.
Zayed looked at Manish and asked, "I wonder what she's doing here."
"It's not our problem. I guess she is just here to do some jogging or something." Said Manish.
Ali continued the net practice with Nakul.
Nakul bowled a slower ball, and Coach Shastri told him to loft the ball to the leg side.
Ali swished his bat with perfect technique, and the ball hit the upper edge of the net, making a loud sound.
"Good job Ali! Go do fielding practice, and call Zayed." Said Shastri.
"Got it, sir." Ali started walking away from the nets and to the fielding practice. While he was walking he saw the girl.
Her.
The one who almost caused him to get lynched. The one he loved the most in this world. And yet, she didn't know any of this. In the far future, they would become extremely close, but her brother would bring a gang of goons, just because of his identity.
It's better I stay away from her, she will be happier if I never knew her. At least she won't be forced to marry that man.
Ali had lost his focus. He walked towards Zayed and told him to go to the nets. Then he got into the fielding stance. The assistant coach hit the ball at him.
"Catch it, Ali!" Said the coach. But all Ali could think about was the past. The ball hit his face and he fell to the ground.
Ali's vision blurred, and before he closed his eyes, he saw the girl and Manish run towards him. "Ali, you ok?" Were the last things he heard before he woke up in the school nurse's office.
Ali woke up to the smell of coffee. He was in the nurse's office. The nurse looked at him. "You're ok, it's nothing really, just take a rest and go home." Said the nurse.
Manish and Suraj were waiting for him at the side of the bed. "You ok? It looked like you were distracted by something."
"No, it's fine. I'm completely ok." Said Ali.
"Alright, if you say so." Said Manish.
They left the office, and Ali was left to his own devices.
Why is she here? I should first meet her when I enroll at St Alphonso. How does she know me?
Zainab came to pick Ali up, rushing from the radiology clinic, holding a chocolate bar. "Ali, what happened? Are you ok? Should I run an X-ray on your head?"
"Mom, the ball just hit my head, I'm completely fine. Don't worry." He reassured his mom.
"Eat this. You will feel much happier." His mom gave the chocolate bar to him. "Only for today."
Ali got into the car, and sat down. The radio sputtered, playing a cheesy action song. He started eating the chocolate bar, calm, but in unease.
Two weeks later. It was the day of the initial assembly of the district qualifiers. More than six thousand people had filled the large auditorium. Students, teachers, parents and staff. Each wanting their school's team to be the winner of the tournament.
Ali saw his opposition. Anzal Hussain. Akib Hakeem. Ravichandran Rai. Shantanu Sharma. Aditya Joshi. All well known district level players, soon to be prospects of the Karnataka U 19 team.
Siddarth called his father. "Dad hasn't even come yet, he should be here, representing the school. Instead, Karan had to come himself. At this rate, he will lose his job."
Meanwhile in a room near the stage, someone's phone rang. "Of course, it's him. Can't he be more patient? I thought I taught him better." Muttered the man.
He answered the call. "Dad, where are you? Sir is annoyed." Came the voice from the phone.
"Don't call me now. Call me after the event, I'm quite busy right now." Said the man.
With this, he cut the call.
"President sir, the stage is almost ready! Is your speech paper safe?" Came the voice of a staff member.
"It's in my bag." Said the man.
While Ali and Manish were discussing the format, Ali felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around. It was Akib. The opening batsman of Excellence PU College, along with Anzal Hussain.
"So you're Ali right? I heard a lot about you. You were the batsman who was part of that boundary thing right?" Asked Akib.
Akib Hakeem, the ever so charismatic captain of the Excellence PU College team. In the original timeline, when he had made it to the district team as a reserve member, he was the first person to take a chance on Ali.
He had given Ali his first big break in cricket. Smart, calm, and always able to lead his team throughout every crisis, he was what Ali wanted to be. Some could say he was like Dhoni, but at the opener position.
"Yeah, I was the batsman who hit that six." Ali then joked, "But the cause for the conspiracy is nowhere to be seen."
Siddarth was standing nearby and he heard it. He walked towards them.
"Don't badmouth me behind my back, you idiot." Siddarth had immediately reacted to Ali's comment.
"Don't worry about it, he was just joking." Said Akib, reassuring Siddarth. "You don't seem too bad, where are you from?"
"I'm from Mangalore." Said Ali.
"Me too. Good luck, hope you make the district selection. Because I won't be the only one vying for those forty spots in the selection list." He then walked away.
"Damn, you actually got his attention? That's insane." Suraj exclaimed.
"Attention or not, they are our opponents." Stated Siddarth, "You don't just badmouth a teammate in front of an opponent, however nice they are to you."
"Even if the teammate is part of a scandal?" Questioned Ali.
"Alright, alright!" Manish stood in between the two of them, to stop their quarrel. "Siddarth, stop getting angry for no reason, and Ali, calm down. We are a team."
At that moment, the lights dimmed slightly.
"All students and representatives, please sit down in your respective seats." Boomed a voice from the loudspeaker.
Feet started shuffling throughout the hall. Everyone took their seats, but something was weird. Ashwandeep's seats were at the front row, right near the stage.
Imtiyaz and the other members of the board walked onto the stage. The president's chair was empty. How weird. The previous president was ousted by Imtiyaz after he was found guilty of asking fees from players so that they can get into the district selection list.
Murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. Where was the new president?
Imtiyaz walked to the lectern, and began his speech.
"Yesterday, on the 9th of August, 2015, I saw a flock of migrating birds. Their leader guided them through the sky, treacherous seas, and the hunters wanting to collect their feathers. A leader, is a person who is like the bird in the front of the flock. He shows the way to his flock, despite the hardships, or in this case, his team. With this I would like to welcome the new district president of the Mangalore Cricket Association!"
The man walked onto the stage. Ali was surprised. Karan was stupefied.
It was Sahwit.
"You never told me this, Shastri." Karan looked at him.
"I wasn't knowing of this either. He used to tell me that he had urgent appointments with his doctor." Said Shastri.
Ali was frozen in his seat, with fear. This wasn't supposed to happen. Sahwit was supposed to get exposed in 1 year! What's going on?
Sahwit took his seat, and had a wry grin. Imtiyaz continued with his speech, all of it sounding like gibberish due to the stress Ali was in.
Sahwit had returned, and Ali had found out the hard way.
TO BE CONTINUED
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