The coach that shuttled the team down on day one was now once again shuffling through the congested Bengaluru streets, twisting and turning past rickshaws and cars until they managed to pull into the NCA lot, where for some reason another coach was parked, it was a Mercedes model, much newer and much more state of the art than the one that was used for the under nineteen squad, and the bus had a massive logo on it representing the Indian Cricket emblem and the tricolor was painted onto the back of it.
Prince had a sudden twist in his stomach and he instantly asked the system to scan the bus as soon as he got off with the others, who were equally as surprised and confused. The system chimed in his mind.
Prince's mouth fell open in shock. The senior team was here. What for? Would they get to meet them?
Shubman Gill who caught Prince's awe-struck expression leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Bhai, your mouth is open."
Prince shut it quickly after that whispering back, "Bro that's the senior team bus, i think they might be here."
It was Gill's turn to drop his jaw, and Prince seeing the opportunity smirking, said, "Bhaiya your mouth is open." The two laughed and walked with the rest to the dressing room where they got into their iconic blue kits and caps, Coach Dravid walked in as they settled.
"Okay lads, bad news, this camp was meant to be a week long, but due to recurrent and intense fixture schedules for the Australian under nineteen team, they asked us if we could bring the series a bit earlier, which means we will be travelling to Australia very soon for a T20 series, meaning this is the second and last day of camp, today we will be playing a practice match... against a senior squad line up."
The lads whispered amongst themselves, whispers of excitement at leaving the country for the first time, or playing the Australian bowlers, playing at the Gabba, and most of all, the senior players they were about to meet.
"Okay," Coach Dravid continued, "Prince, " he pointed at Prince, "You'll lead the under nineteens for this practice match, and maybe if you play well against the seniors then the Australia series too."
Prince's chest swelled with pride as he took the armband from Coach Dravid, who patted his shoulder once before leaving and at the door he said, "Today, the captain will decide the order of the lineup."
Prince took a moment to breathe before he pulled the armband on and rose to his feet.
"Okay guys, let's do this. From my experience Aru is a big hitter a foundation layer not a stabiliser, and Gill compliments Aru's aggression with elegance, technique and patience, so the opening duo will be those two. I will come on as third man, my role especially if I have to come on earlier than expected is to steady the innings, following me there will be Abhishek, Shaw, Tilak, Pant, Sudarshan, Sundar, Khaleel and Arshdeep."
Prince and his fledgling team left the dressing rooms ignited with confidence and when they saw the senior team, it was safe to say some of it was tempered with a bit of fear, fear of embarrassing themselves against the men they looked up to and saw as idols.
While the others stood shyly, Prince took charge and walked up to the senior team...
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, M.S Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Harbhajan Singh and Jasprit Bumrah.
Prince shook hands firmly with M.S Dhoni (captain cool), then with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, "It is an honour and absolute pleasure to play against all of you, for us since childhood, you are our heroes." Dhoni smiled warmly and spoke soft, "We have heard about you Prince, great things, hopefully you'll be up with us soon," Kohli and Rohit still not the complete veterans they would end up being chuckled and joked, "He already looks like he's thirty, like a mini captain," I chuckled and moved to shake hands with all the team and walked with Dhoni to the crease where Dravid was waiting with a coin.
Prince waited patiently for the toss.
"Okay, Dhoni you toss, Martin it's your call," both captain's got ready, Prince a little taller than Dhoni, looked down at the coin and as Dhoni flicked it up, Prince said, "Heads," the cpin landed with a barely audible thud, that prince couldn't hear over the thudding of his own heart.
"Heads, Under Nineteen wins the toss, Prince would you like to bat or ball."
Prince thought for it a moment and based on the pitch and player scans he got from the system a millisecond ago the verdict became painfully clear, the only way to not lose embarrasingly would be to use the conditions. Prince nodded at the team before replying, "We'll bowl first coach."
The field got ready and Prince watched as Dhawan and Sharma walked over to the batting strip, Prince held the ball tight almost too tight as he evaluated with the system's help the style of the two openers, soon he decided on a fielding setup, at first Prince thought he'd ball first but eventualy decided against it calling for Arshdeep, "Oi Arsh, come here!"
The punjab bowler ran up to Prince, "Whats up skipper?"
Prince smiled before telling him, "Take the first over, no pressure, relax, Dhawan is agressive like Aru, so is Rohit, but Rohit is not as rash as Dhawan, Arsh, these men maybe like gods to us, but they are men, they bleed like us, cry like us and fail like us, try variations, cutters and swing agaisnt Dhawan, same with Rohit, keep it short with Dhawan, no rash and full deliveries and with Rohit, keep it at a good length area, you've got this."
Prince ran to his side of the field, bending his knees and getting ready to see Arshdeep's first ball and taking a deep and long breath, he ran in like the wind.