After the 11th over ended, Ali realised that he must hit a six on the first ball of Kismat's next over. But that wasn't the end of the innings. He still had 9 overs to face.
Samuel walked over to him, before saying, "That was quite deserved."
"I know." Said Ali.
Sohan was about to pass the ball to the other spinner, Alden, but was stopped by Akash.
"Don't you think we should vary the bowling attack?" Suggested Akash.
"Hmm.. you could be right here, but I feel we should let Alden bowl an over." Countered Sohan.
"They'll definitely expect spin." Stated Akash. "You should let me bowl my 3rd over."
"Fine." Said Sohan, before throwing the ball to Akash. "Take the 12th over you want so much."
Akash caught the ball, and walked over to the crease.
"This time, I will take a wicket." Thought Akash.
He started his run up, and threw a curving in swinger that ripped towards the edge of Samuel's bat. He tilted his bat, and immediately ran to the other side of the crease. A single.
Ali then defended the next two balls for dot balls. Akash however threw a seam ball which moved away from Ali. Ali perfectly planted his foot into the ground, and turned the bat in a sweeping motion.
The ball flew in the air, before bouncing once and reaching the boundary line.
[ Ali 16* (5) | Samuel 49* (32) | 105/1 ]
Ali then hit the ball into a gap, before taking another single.
[ Ali 19* (7) | Samuel 49* (32) | 108/1 ]
Kismat walked out for his final over. He had to do something, or else his chances for district team selection would plummet.
He ran to the crease before entering the usual stance. Coach Shastri groaned. The ball was then chucked from his hand spinning away from Ali.
Ali breathed in air once, before the ball slowed in front of his eyes. Once again Ali planted his feet into the ground, and swept his bat towards the side.
The ball flew so high that it hit a tree ten meters away from the boundary line. The Gulbarga crowd was completely silenced.
[ Ali 25* (8) | Samuel 49* (32) | 114/1 ]
The rest of Kismat's over was filled with boundary after boundary. Every ball was flung over the boundary line, one after the other. Kismat tried everything, but each time, Ali changed the type of shot he faced the ball with. It was a complete bloodbath. It was so silent that a pin drop would be clearly heard.
[ Ali 46* (14) | Samuel 49* (32) | 135/1 ]
Ali then held the bat over his head. He then walked over to Samuel.
"Great job!" Said Samuel. "Keep at it, and we can reach 200."
They did a fist bump, and Ali then said, "They will crumble soon, get ready."
It was as though he could sense the mood in the stadium. A calm breeze ran through the field, betraying the tension throughout.
Sohan meanwhile sensed something was off. Akash and Kismat were talking more to each other about tactics and ideas than to him, their captain. A few of the fielders were out of position. Something was definitely off.
He decided to confront Akash.
"Akash, what do you think you're doing?" Asked Sohan.
"Just fixing your mistakes." Said Akash, who did not care about being caught. "If you were completely in control, they would have reached 170 by now!"
"Winning, but at the cost of betrayal isn't right." Reprimanded Sohan, hurt. "You could have told me your ideas."
"But you wouldn't listen." Countered Akash. "You always pushed-"
He was interrupted by the umpire.
"So, who's bowling next?" Asked the umpire looking at his watch.
"We will talk about this after the end of the first innings." Said Sohan, dismissively. "Now go and field."
"Got it." Said Akash.
After that, Alden and a spinner bowled the next 2 overs, wherein both were smacked for a total of 42 runs.
[ Ali 64* (22) | Samuel 73* (38) | 177/1 ]
Ashwandeep were in complete control. Both Ali and Samuel were hitting boundary after boundary and not a single one of them had even broke into a sweat. There were 5 overs left.
Sohan was out of ideas. The team had completely fractured into 2 sides. Sohan shouted instructions, but there was a lethargy in the players movements, as though they did not want to follow him.
"Fine, let me take a risk and give Akash the ball." Thought Sohan.
He threw the ball to Akash for his last over.
"Just get me a wicket." Told Sohan. "Do whatever field placements you wish."
"Your wish is my command." Said Akash, before completely changing the field.
Samuel looked around. The placement of fielders and the atmosphere had completely changed. It was like a new mind had taken up the captaincy.
Akash ran towards the crease for the 1st ball of his final over. The ball appeared to go straight at the wicket, but dipped slightly. Samuel tried to whack it, but had to settle for a defensive stance in the end.
Dot ball.
Akash bowled the next 2 balls and both were dots. The Gulbarga crowd woke up again. Their best bowler had Aswandeep's best around his finger.
Samuel prepared to face the next ball. This time, he decided to merely rotate strike and let Ali face the last 2 balls of the over.
Akash bowled again. The ball was slower this time, and Samuel went for a cover drive, but the ball edged his bat and ran right into the gloves of the keeper.
Gulbarga had got their breakthrough. Akash pumped his fists into the air before high fiving Kismat.
[ Ali 64* (22) | Shrivastav 0* (0) | 177/2 ]
Shrivastav walked over to the crease. It was his first time batting since his fracture. The noise of the crowd screaming washed over him.
"I need to get us to 230." Thought Shrivastav.
Shrivastav took a single and gave strike to Ali. Ali tried to hit the ball with a switch hit, but the fielder was perfectly positioned. Ali had to leave the crease.
"Dammit, at the worst possible time..." Thought Ali to himself.
He was about to walk off the crease before Shrivastav stopped him.
"Don't worry, your captain will take care of this." Said Shrivastav.
Ali laughed to himself, before telling, "Do it."
Akash bowled his last ball, and Shrivastav simply moved his bat to the flow of the field. The ball hit the centre of the bat, and flied all the way to the boundary.
And for the next 4 overs, Shrivastav finished off the innings. Gulbarga tried everything, from spin to pace, from seam to carrom, nothing worked.
The boy who fractured his arm while fielding was nowhere to seen. Ashwandeep's dependable anchor man was back.
In the end, Shrivastav scored an unbeaten 40 off 20 balls.
The total was now 221, and Ashwandeep had broken another record. They had the highest total in all of the district tournament.
TO BE CONTINUED
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