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The common room at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru was a pressure cooker of teenage adrenaline.
It was September 24, 2007, and the entire India Under-19 squad was crammed onto sofas, chairs, and the floor, their eyes locked on the small television. This wasn't a practice match. This was the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup Final.
This was India vs. Pakistan.
"He's got to hit him! Just one boundary!" Virat Kohli, perched on the arm of a sofa, was vibrating with an energy that threatened to short-circuit the entire room.
"Shut up, Virat! Let them play!" snapped Tanmay Srivastava, the U-19 captain, though his own knuckles were white as he gripped his knees.
Siddanth Deva sat at the back, leaning against a wall, his heart thumping an irregular rhythm. He was the only person in the room who wasn't nervous. He was agonized.
He knew the script. He had lived this day once before, in a sterile Bengaluru apartment, watching it alone. He knew what was coming. He knew Joginder Sharma was the most absurd, brilliant gamble. He knew Misbah-ul-Haq was about to play the most infamous shot in cricket history.
For everyone else in this room, it was unbearable suspense. For Siddanth, it was an excruciating, thrilling re-enactment. He had to fake the gasps, fake the groans, and wait for the inevitable, glorious conclusion.
The final over began. 13 runs needed. Joginder Sharma, a man who had barely played, had the ball.
"Who is this guy?!" Saurabh Tiwary yelled. "Where's Harbhajan?!"
First ball: Wide. The room groaned.
Second ball (re-bowled): Dot. A sigh of relief.
Second ball (real): Misbah hits a full toss for SIX!
The room exploded in a collective "NO!" Virat leaped to his feet, cursing a blue streak, pacing like a caged tiger. "Fuck! Why a full toss! Why!"
Siddanth just watched, his pulse thrum-thrum-thrumming. Here it comes...
Third ball: Wide. 7 runs needed.
Fourth ball: The Scoop.
Siddanth didn't watch the ball. He watched Misbah. He saw the premeditated shuffle, the bat coming down at that fatal, hopeful angle. He saw the ball loop up, a sickeningly high, lazy parabola towards fine leg.
Time stopped.
In the common room, everyone was silent, their collective breath held.
The camera found Sreesanth.
"CATCH IT!" Virat roared, a single, primal sound.
The ball hung. Sreesanth juggled, just for a heart-stopping split-second. And then, he held it.
For a full second, the NCA common room was frozen in disbelief.
Then... pandemonium.
It wasn't a cheer; it was a detonation. Virat Kohli tackled Ravindra Jadeja clean over the sofa.
Manish Pandey was screaming, incoherent. Amanpreet Singh and Shrikanth Munde were jumping up and down, chest-bumping. Siddanth found himself on his feet, roaring, a pure, unadulterated joy ripping from his chest.
This was it. This was the moment. A young team, led by a young captain, had done what the "Gods" of the game, the senior team, had failed to do in the Caribbean just months earlier. They had won. They had changed the game.
They weren't just celebrating a win; they were watching their own future being born.
The celebration lasted for an two hours, the teenagers running through the hallways, banging on doors, the adrenaline of that final catch impossible to contain. Eventually all of them were back to their rooms.
The dormitory was quiet.
Siddanth lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His roommates, Amanpreet Singh and Shrikanth Munde, were already fast asleep, their breathing deep and even.
But Siddanth was restless. His mind was on fire. The T20 win wasn't just a win; it was a pivot. It was the dawn of the new, aggressive, fearless India. It was the blueprint for the 2011 World Cup.
Dhoni won with a young team, he thought, his heart hammering. He won with instinct. He won with players like me.
Sleep was impossible. The celebration hadn't drained his adrenaline; it had focused it. He needed to move. He needed to hit something.
Quietly, he slipped out of bed. He grabbed his practice gear. He crept out of the room, his movements silent.
He made his way to the NCA's outdoor nets. The facility was vast, silent, and bathed in the eerie, bright-white glare of the floodlights. The air was cool, smelling of dew and freshly cut grass. He was alone.
Or so he thought.
THWACK.
The sound, sharp and clean, echoed from the far net.
PING.
Siddanth stopped. He saw a lone figure, helmet on, silhouetted against the black netting. A bowling machine was set up, spitting out red balls with a rhythmic whump.
THWACK.
A perfect, straight-armed cover drive.
Siddanth didn't even need to see the face. He knew that obsessive, compulsive energy.
He walked over, his own kit bag slung over his shoulder. The figure didn't stop. He was in the zone, feeding another ball into the machine's chute, getting back in his stance, and smashing it again.
"Couldn't sleep, huh?" Siddanth called out, his voice cutting through the mechanical rhythm.
Virat Kohli stopped. He lifted his grille, his face slick with sweat, his eyes bright and intense. He wasn't surprised to see him. It was a look of recognition.
"You too?" Virat panted, a grin spreading across his face. "That final... man! I'm still buzzing. I felt like I needed to hit something."
"Same for me, I think," Siddanth laughed, dropping his own bag. "You're going to wear out the bearings on that thing."
"Practice, Sid! Practice!" Virat said, gesturing to the machine. "That's how we beat them. That's how we get there."
Siddanth watched the machine spit out another ball. It was 130kph, on a perfect, predictable length.
"That's not going to get you there, Virat," Siddanth said, his confidence leaking through.
Kohli paused. "What, the machine?"
"The machine's too predictable. It's not match-practice. It's just rhythm. You need... a challenge."
Siddanth walked over, unzipped his kit bag, and pulled out a Kookaburra ball. He walked past Kohli, past the machine, and hit the 'Stop' button. The machine whirred to a halt with a sad sigh.
"What are you doing?" Virat asked, confused.
Siddanth walked 22 yards down the net. "I'm giving you a challenge."
He turned, the ball in his left hand, and began his run-up.
"You're bowling?" Kohli laughed, settling back into his stance. "Come on, Sid, I'm already tired, don't—"
The words died in his throat. Siddanth's action was not the "medium-fast" he'd seen in the Ranji final. This was different. This was a long-legged, high-action, violent slingshot.
The ball left his hand as a red blur.
It was 148kph, angled in at Kohli's ribs, climbing.
Virat, expecting a 130kph loosener, reacted on pure, animal instinct. He just managed to get his bat up in a defensive flinch. The ball slammed into the sticker, the impact vibrating his entire body, the bat nearly torn from his grip.
CRACK.
Kohli stared. Siddanth just stood there, 22 yards away, spinning the ball in his hand.
"You... you..." Virat just shook his head, a slow, dangerous grin spreading. "Okay, Sid. Okay. So that's how it is. Let's play."
What followed was not a practice session. It was a duel.
Siddanth bowled fast. He bowled mean. He dug one in short, 149kph, that had Kohli ducking, the ball hissing past his helmet.
"That's the real stuff!" Kohli yelled, his eyes alight.
Siddanth then brought out the 105kph slower-ball yorker. Kohli, set for the pace, was through his shot, stumbling, as the ball trickled past his bat. He was furious, but it was the fury of a competitor who had been bested.
But Kohli adapted. He was, even at 19, a genius. He started to use the pace. Siddanth bowled a 145kph outswinger.
Kohli, with that signature, whippy, bottom-handed drive, didn't just block it; he smashed it, the ball cannoning into the back-net before Siddanth had even finished his follow-through.
For thirty minutes, it was war.
Finally, Siddanth stopped, his chest heaving, his shoulder feeling that familiar, powerful, but stable ache. "Okay... okay... I'm done. You're... you're unreal, man."
"Me?" Kohli laughed, taking off his helmet, his hair plastered to his head. "You, Sid! Where did that come from? That's... that's proper pace!"
"Been working on it," Siddanth panted, walking over. "Your turn. I need to hit."
"My turn?" Virat looked at the ball in his hand, then at Siddanth. "You want me to bowl to you?"
"You're a right-arm, wrong-footed, medium-pacer, aren't you?" Siddanth grinned, grabbing his own bat.
"Cheeky bugger," Virat laughed. "Alright, let's go. But I'm getting you out."
For the next thirty minutes, they swapped roles. Virat wasn't 150kph, but he was all heart, running in, trying to bounce Siddanth, trying to get him with cutters.
And Siddanth put on a show.
Virat bowled a short ball. Siddanth, in a display of pure, arrogant genius, ramped him over his own head.
"No!" Virat yelled, half-laughing, half-furious. "That's not a real shot! You can't do that!"
"It went for six, didn't it?" Siddanth called back, settling into his stance.
Virat, fuming, ran in and bowled a perfect, angry yorker. Siddanth simply shuffled, his wrists flicking the ball through mid-wicket for a boundary.
They were both gassed, their practice kits soaked in sweat, bats and helmets scattered on the ground. They collapsed onto the cool grass just outside the net, their chests heaving, side-by-side.
For a long time, the only sound was the hum of the floodlights and their own breathing. The adrenaline of the T20 final had finally been spent, replaced by a deep, satisfying exhaustion.
"You're a freak, Sid," Virat said, staring up at the hazy, starless Bengaluru sky. "You bat like an artist; the stadium is your canvas, and the bat is your brush.."
Siddanth chuckled. "And you bat like you're the only man on earth who's allowed to score runs."
They fell into an easy chatter. Movies. Kohli was all action—Gladiator, 300. Siddanth found himself recommending The Dark Knight, which hadn't even come out yet, catching himself and changing it to Chak De! India. They talked about songs, about the food in the mess, about the girls at the nearby college they were all too focused to talk to.
They were, for a few moments, just two teenagers.
The easy silence returned, comfortable and deep. The night felt still, a pocket of peace before the storm of the U-19 World Cup.
Virat broke it, his voice suddenly quiet, all the brashness gone, replaced by a low, hard intensity.
"Next world cup... I will be playing for India for sure."
Siddanth turned his head. Kohli was staring straight up, but his jaw was set. It wasn't a boast. It wasn't a dream. It was a statement of fact. He was just announcing the weather.
Siddanth felt a shiver of recognition. This was the unshakeable, terrifying conviction of a true great. It was the same fire that burned in his own soul.
He looked back up at the sky.
"I'll be there too, Virat," he said, his voice just as quiet, just as certain.
Kohli turned, a slow smile spreading across his face. He saw it. He saw the same lack of doubt, the same absolute resolve. He wasn't talking to a 17-year-old kid. He was talking to a fellow obsessive. A fellow predator.
"Yeah," Kohli breathed. "Yeah, I think you will."
He sat up, his eyes locking with Siddanth's.
"Then let's make it a promise," Virat said, his voice raw. "Right here, right now. We won the T20s. We'll win this U-19 World Cup. But that's not the end. That's the start. We will not stop. Not for injuries, not for selectors, not for anything... until we are in that 2011 Indian squad. Together. Playing in the real World Cup."
He held out his hand.
Siddanth looked at it. The 2011 World Cup. He would be 20. Kohli would be 22. It wasn't a dream. In his mind, it was a deadline.
He grasped Kohli's hand. It wasn't a handshake. It was a pact, sealed in sweat, adrenaline, and the shared, lunatic ambition of two prodigies who refused to fail.
"A promise," Siddanth said, his voice a low, hard vow.
They stood up, the spell broken, but the connection forged.
"Come on," Virat said, picking up his bat. "I'm tired. But not that tired. One more over. And this time, don't bowl that stupid slow-ball."
Siddanth grinned, picking up the ball. "No promises."
They walked back to their rooms as the first hint of grey lightened the eastern sky, two 17-year-olds who had just, in the dead of night, shouldered the future of a billion people. And for the first time in his second life, Siddanth Deva didn't feel like a time-traveler hiding a secret.
He just felt like he was home.
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