Ali woke up. Suraj was looking over him.
"Ali got up, guys." Said Suraj.
Ali stood up, still feeling a slight headache from Sahwit's mental attack.
"What was that?" Thought Ali. "He can do mind control?"
The Ashwandeep team ran onto the pitch, determined to win the match.
"I'm surprised to be honest." A man in a coat said to the person sitting next to him. "One hundred eighty seven. A very high total. The main cause for this is the trio of Ali, Manish and Siddarth. At least one of these three will go on to play in the Ranji trophy."
The man was Jahan Wickramasinghe. A scout from the Karnataka Cricket Premier League.
"3 teams have asked to put two players from Ashwandeep on the bidding shortlist." Said Jahan. "I'm here to see if they are worth it."
"After all, they will be earning a few lakhs." Said the person next to him.
Ali and Manish talked to each other, before setting the field up to counter the opening duo of Amir and Nihar.
Anirudh was to bowl the first over.
"Bowl out swingers and balls that stay away from the wicket to Nihar." Said Manish. "As for Amir, keep the ball close to his legs."
"Got it." Said Anirudh.
Anirudh threw the first ball, a ball that swung away from the wicket.
Nihar immediately attacked the ball, sending it up in the air.
But Manish had planned for it.
Nakul was right under the ball. He calmly caught it.
Nihar was out. The first wicket of many.
Venkat was up next. Both Venkat and Amir were left handed. A dangerous situation.
Manish saw this, and changed his field to be more attacking of left handed batsmen. But Ali saw something better.
"Put Shrivastav at silly point." Said Ali, calmly.
Manish looked at Ali in surprise. The idea was sillier than the name of the fielding position.
"Why?" Asked Manish.
"Venkat won't like close balls as I had told you all earlier. But what if we force him to defend and cause the ball to edge towards silly point?" Said Ali.
"Not bad, kid." Said Manish.
Manish called over Shrivastav, before telling him, "Get a helmet, you're going to field at silly point."
"What are you even planning on here?" Asked Shrivastav.
"Just a little gamble." Said Manish.
Shrivastav took his helmet, before fielding at silly point.
The person next to Jahan was baffled. Why silly point?
"I know what you are thinking." Said Jahan. "But it's a calculated risk from Ashwandeep."
"But why waste a fielder on a gamble?" Asked the man.
"Playing it safe isn't always a good idea." Said Jahan. "Just think about it for a bit."
Anirudh bowled the second ball. It was very close cutter ball, going right towards Venkat's toes.
Venkat drove the ball, but it instead edged his bat and went to Shrivastav who caught it.
Shrivastav was surprised. "How.. how did I catch it?"
Another wicket. Ashwandeep was dominating St Alphonso.
Something that should never happen in a million years.
"Well, it looks like it's my turn." Said Aditya, ready to save the innings, before walking out to the cheers of the St Alphonso supporters.
"Now comes the real test." Stated Jahan. "He is a district player after all."
Anirudh was slightly nervous. He was bowling to Aditya Rawat, a district level player.
"Just limit him." Said Manish.
Anirudh bowled the third ball of his over to Aditya. Aditya moved a bit behind, before pulling his bat back and sending the ball away for a six.
[ Aditya 6* (1) | Amir 0* (0) | 6/2 ]
Suraj was tensed.
"I have to bowl to that?!" He asked.
After this, Aditya and Amir began building their partnership. Amir, who was normally the aggressive batsman, became the anchor in front of a determined Aditya, who wanted to fix the mistakes of his previous teammates.
Ball after ball hit the boundary lines for the next 5 overs. The determined Aditya did not want to take any chances, and had hence not let Amir face as many balls as he would have liked. However, Amir was still able to get a few boundaries.
[ Aditya 48* (21) | Amir 14* (7) | 62/2 ]
Chinnar Rai was to bowl the 7th over.
He was normally known to be the star of slowing the run rate down. But in this situation, he had no choice but to try as hard as possible to get a wicket.
Aditya got ready to face his first ball.
Chinnar Rai, threw a doorsa which surprised Aditya. Aditya hit it away for a single.
The next ball was a top spinner, which Amir tried to swing at, but missed.
Chinnar Rai smiled. It was as he had planned.
He then bowled his main weapon, the carrom ball which Amir swung at again, but it skidded past his bat, before hitting his pads.
The umpire's finger went up.
Chinnar Rai jumped into the air.
"I'll prove you wrong, father." He thought to himself.
Ali and Manish celebrated with him, happy that the match was quickly turned in their favor again.
Meanwhile, Aditya was still calm.
"The only good batsmen left are Shihab and Ravichandran. I have to anchor now."
Thought Aditya.
Ashwandeep had shocked all of Mangalore. They had the strongest team in the tournament in their pocket.
TO BE CONTINUED
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