The coin slowly flew upwards, it's shine flickering across the field. Sohan called heads, and the coin also fell on heads.
"We choose to bowl." Said Sohan.
The usual opening duo of Samuel and Manish walked over to the crease, both willing to start the innings off well.
For the first five overs, Samuel and Manish, calmly rotated strike with perfect chemistry, as they always did. Sohan tried everything, from changing the field to bringing a spinner in, but none of that worked.
He had no choice. He called Akash over to the crease, as he had decided that he would bowl the sixth over. Originally Sohan had planned to use him to pressure Ashwandeep in the middle overs.
"Akash, go bowl." Ordered Sohan.
"But this goes against our plan!"
"We need a breakthrough. Get it for us." Said Sohan calmly.
Akash muttered something, before beginning to bowl the 6th over.
[ Manish 22* (13) | Samuel 26* (17) | 48/0 ]
Akash was completely silent as he began his run up, with a spark of anger in his eyes. The 1st ball was a fast seam ball that flew towards the wicket. Manish pushed his bat forward, not letting the hard length ball reach the wicket.
The next ball was a inswinger, which Manish pushed again. This time however, he took a single. The next two balls were hit through the gaps. Samuel faced the penultimate ball of Akash's over.
It was a shorter ball, which Samuel arrogantly sent up in the air with a back footed drive shot. The ball trailed in a perfect arc, before crossing the boundary line.
[ Manish 24* (16) | Samuel 33* (19) | 57/0 ]
"I knew we should have stuck to the plan. What a fool Sohan is!" Thought Akash.
Akash then made a motion to his "deputy" in the team, Kismat. He immediately understood, and moved 2 of the other players into different areas of the pitch, in a way that Sohan wouldn't notice.
He then began his run up, this time with far more vigor. The ball was much faster in speed, and was right near Samuel's toes. He pulled his leg forward, and the ball glided past his bat before smacking his pads.
"HOWZZAT!" screamed Akash, before looking at the umpire. He did not raise his finger. Akash walked up to the umpire before telling him in anger, "It hit his pads!"
"If you see carefully, your ball has a slight seam on it. This would lead to the ball going away from the wicket, and hence no LBW." Explained the umpire.
Akash fumed. However, he couldn't say anything to the correct analysis of the umpire. Akash threw the ball back to Sohan, visibly annoyed. Sohan looked back at him, confused.
Manish and Samuel continued their assault on the Gulbarga bowling attack. However in the 11th over, Sohan told Kismat to bowl. This was where their grand partnership ended.
[ Manish 34* (30) | Samuel 47* (30) | 81/0 ]
The first ball was bowled to Samuel. Sohan had made a few changes to the field, which Akash had made more lethal by slightly moving them.
The ball bounced higher than normal, and Samuel tried to defend it. However it nicked the top corner of his bat, which caused the ball to fly high in the air. One of the fielders ran towards it, and unfortunately for Gulbarga had dropped the catch.
While this chaos was ongoing, Samuel ran once between the wickets, collecting an extra run.
Manish also planned to play through Kismat's over. The next two balls were both dots, and neither of them were willing to risk their wickets in a important over.
The fourth ball Kismat bowled however, changed Manish's perception. He saw that the ball had bounced right into the slot. Manish crossed his bat, and whacked the ball all the way to the mid on boundary for a six.
[ Manish 40* (33) | Samuel 48* (31) | 88/0 ]
Kismat looked at Akash bewildered. Akash looked back at him as if saying, "Quickly take care of this!"
Kismat nodded, and slightly changed his bowling action. He ran towards the crease and suddenly stopped. The hand holding the ball was over his head, and he was on one leg.
Ali looked at him from the dugout, annoyed. It reminded him of one bowler, and one bowler only, the annoying Usman Tariq, one of the future bowlers of Pakistan. Kismat released the ball from his hand, and Manish tried to push the loopy ball into the boundary, but due to his poor reaction time, the ball hit the wicket.
Kismat ran towards Akash and high fived him. The 300 odd Gulbarga National crowd roared in delight. Ali prepared to go onto the pitch, while Samuel fought with the umpire.
"That was chucking the ball!" Said Samuel. "It isn't a fair delivery!"
"No, it was a fair delivery." Said the umpire, clearly in favor of Gulbarga National's players.
Ali walked over to the pitch, when the system suddenly popped a notification.
[New Quest]
Justice for a Teammate
Hit a six off the next 3 balls of Kismat's bowling.
Reward: Title - [One Who Metes Out Justice]
"So, even the system does not like this." Thought Ali. "Fine then. I needed to take out my anger anyway."
Ali walked over to the crease, tapped his bat onto the pitch once, before getting into his usual batting stance. He looked at Kismat angrily, before preparing to face the last two balls of his over.
Kismat ran over before getting into his usual stance, not knowing he was facing someone who knew this tactic like the back of his hand.
The ball flew out of his hand, bouncing at a good length, before Ali moved backward and smacked the ball right over Kismat's head.
Six. It was a show of dominance as Ali raised his bat once at Kismat. The last ball of Kismat's second over met the same fate. Ali stared him down, and Kismat felt like it was a warning to him.
[ Ali 12* (2) | Samuel 48* (31) | 100/1 ]
TO BE CONTINUED
Ps: if you like what you are reading so far, why not add the book into your collection?