Marcus walked back to the dugout in dismay.
So that was real spin. I got too over confident.
After this, the first innings ended with a complete batting collapse, orchestrated by the bowling of Chinnar Rai and Suraj. One of them slowly chipped away at the Rosenberg batsmen's confidence, while the other finished it with their wickets.
Rosenberg managed a paltry 157, mainly due to Kiriketan's careful batting.
Sahwit was livid, seeing this.
Where is the complete collapse I envisioned?
Ali drank some water and ate his lunch before the second innings started.
Manish and Samuel walked out onto the pitch.
Another easy target.
The first 11 overs went smoothly, with Marcus unable to stop Samuel or Manish from continuing a partnership. But in the 12th over, Marcus changed something.
Jacob was bowling the 12th over. He was a spinner.
Manish was on strike, and he was ready to play through this over.
[Manish 45* (31) | Samuel 47* (35) | 92/0]
The first four balls were just sent into singles, doubles and a lucky four.
[Manish 50* (33) | Samuel 50* (37) | 100/0]
Both of them had made a 100 run partnership, showcasing the level of chemistry they had.
Marcus snapped his fingers once from behind the wicket.
Jacob understood.
The fifth ball was a faster ball with a little leg spin, which edged Manish's bat.
Manish looked behind in horror, as Marcus smugly caught the edged ball.
"Told you we improved." Retorted Marcus.
"All I will say is, you made a mistake." Returned Manish.
Ali immediately strapped up his pads and got out to bat.
Samuel came up to him and said, "Finish this fast. Show them that they shouldn't have taken Manish's wicket."
"Fast it is." Returned Ali.
Ali got into the batting stance, ready to face Jacob.
The second last ball of Jacob's over simply went for a double. Jacob then threw a drifter ball. It came outwards ready to edge into Ali's bat.
But Ali had a batting IQ far higher than Jacob's bowling variations.
Ali moved his legs a bit behind, before reverse sweeping the ball away for a six.
[ Ali 8* (2) | Samuel 50* (37) | 108/1]
After this, Ali hit any pacer his bat faced. Ball after ball was sent into the stands, the Rosenberg crowd going silent. Marcus's smirk was wiped off his face.
Marcus called the rest of the Rosenberg team towards him.
"We may have lost here, but we will come back through the losers bracket. Don't worry!" Said Marcus.
The rest of the team then joined in, happy to see a silver lining in their loss.
The team of Ashwandeep students then left the ground in a happy mood.
Three weeks later..
Ashwandeep were on a roll. They had come to the final match before the they could get direct qualification. Ashwandeep beat Maulana Ahmadi School, Vidyalaya Educational Institution and Baharys PU College. A perfect 3 of 3.
Sahwit had tried everything to stop Ashwandeep from winning any of the matches. He had manipulated fields, changed boundary lines, moved the crease, and even made umpires punish normal bowling as "wides".
Only one match remained. Win it, and they would take one of eight spots for direct qualification. Lose it, and they would have to face seven other teams to get a chance to challenge for one of the remaining eight spots.
The only problem was, they had drawn St Alphonso.
The school Ali had played for in his original life.
Aditya was the star of St Alphonso. He was only 17, and he had already played in a district level match. If he won this tournament too, he would definitely be called up again.
Simran and Amir were no pushovers either. Simran had more than 10 wickets only in the last four matches of the qualifiers he had played, while Amir had already scored 2 centuries in his last four matches.
Meanwhile, Sahwit took a sip of his coffee in his office, while talking to Imtiyaz.
"Well, since you really can't do anything to stop Ashwandeep from winning every one of its matches, the only way left is this." Said Imtiyaz.
"It's the cleanest possible way. I should have done this earlier." Lamented Sahwit.
"Now to manipulate the field." Told Imtiyaz, before picking up the phone.
Sahwit put his hand on the phone to stop him. "No need. The Alphonso principal is way too upstanding for his own good. The moment he notices any manipulation, he will report us to the state board."
"Aditya is more than enough to stop Ashwandeep anyway." He continued.
"Alright, if you're that confident, then it is what it is." Said Imtiyaz.
That night, Ali received a message from the unknown number again, as he always did before any match. Aditi was like a hidden trump card of Ali's, allowing him to adapt to any type of manipulation that Sahwit and Imtiyaz tried.
Unknown Number: No changes in the pitch this time. Aditya was practicing a lot more than he normally does. This match placement is most likely a last ditch effort by them to stop you from directly qualifying for the tournament.
Eidolon6_dream: How are you, by the way?
Unknown Number: All good. Go win this.
Eidolon6_dream: I will.
The match was in 3 days. The team practiced extensively, ready to pull off a huge upset. Ali batted in the nets for much longer, Suraj and Anirudh bowled more than they had ever done.
Even Siddarth was training more than normal.
This is my one chance to put myself in the selectors eyes. There will definitely be a early collapse of wickets. And when that happens, I will perform, and then the selectors will choose me over him.
Meanwhile Dalal was speaking to Shastri in private.
They spoke about certain things, and after Zayed had sprained his ankle after facing a vicious Yorker from a Bharays bowler, Shastri had decided to put Dalal in his place, in order to improve the stability of the batting order.
Ali looked at them. Coach Shastri seemed mesmerized, completely absorbed in speaking with Dalal. It was way too abnormal for a relationship between a coach and player.
After seeing the signs of Sahwit and his complete change in his way of life, he knew something was amiss.
It's most likely just some kind of discussion about his father. Dalal's father and Coach Shastri are close after all.
Ali went back to his practice in the nets, determined to win against St Alphonso.
TO BE CONTINUED
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