The charity football match at the Andheri Sports Complex had successfully raised millions of rupees for the Magic Bus foundation, generated spectacular television ratings, and provided fans with an unforgettable evening of entertainment.
However, in the era of high-speed digital communication, the actual football match was quickly overshadowed by a single photograph taken on the sidelines.
It was the selfie Siddanth had taken with Bollywood actresses Sonakshi Sinha and Yami Gautam right after the final whistle. Sonakshi had posted the picture on her official Twitter and Vibe accounts with a simple, congratulatory caption: "What a strike from the midfield general! Great game, @SiddanthDeva_6. ⚽🔥"
Within minutes, the internet had seized upon the image and initiated an absolute firestorm of gossip.
The catalyst for the frenzy was a throwaway comment Siddanth had made last year. During his highly publicized, intense interview on Aap Ki Adalat with Rajat Sharma, he had been asked a rapid-fire question about his favorite Bollywood actress. Siddanth, put on the spot and he had simply named Yami Gautam.
The internet detectives of 2014 possessed flawless memories. They instantly pulled up the video clip from Aap Ki Adalat and placed it side-by-side with the new selfie from the football stadium.
The narrative practically wrote itself. The young, billionaire cricketer meeting his celebrity crush on the sidelines of a glamorous event. The shipping began immediately. Fan edits, romantic background music layered over the selfie, and thousands of speculative tweets flooded the trending pages. Entertainment news portals, desperate for clicks, immediately started publishing articles with sensationalized headlines.
Yami Gautam, waking up the next morning to thousands of notifications and seeing her name trending right next to the Indian cricket vice-captain, quickly realized the situation was spiraling out of control. Wanting to nip the rumors in the bud, she took to Twitter to clarify.
@YamiGautam:Woke up to some very creative imaginations on the timeline today! 😂 Just to clarify, I was just a fan asking for a picture after a great charity match. It was the very first time we met. There is nothing more to it! Have a great Sunday, everyone! ✨
Unfortunately, in the realm of celebrity gossip, clarifications were often treated as confirmations of secrecy. The fans dismissed her tweet as a standard PR cover-up, and the rumors only intensified.
[TWITTER TRENDS - #SidYami #CharityMatchGossip]
@BollyTea:Yami Gautam saying it's just a fan picture... yeah right! Did you see the way they were smiling? The Aap Ki Adalat confession makes sense now! ☕👀 #SidYami
@CricketGossip99:Siddanth Deva scores a 40-yard screamer just to impress Yami in the VIP stands. You cannot script this level of romance! 😭🔥
@DesiDrama:Her PR team definitely made her tweet that to protect his focus before the home season. We see through the lies! Ship them! 🚢❤️
Miles away from the digital chaos, Siddanth Deva was sitting in the quiet, air-conditioned isolation of his luxury hotel suite in downtown Mumbai. Dressed in comfortable grey sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt, he was staring intensely at two external monitors hooked up to his NEXUS laptop.
He was deep into the development of the proprietary Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software to simulate logic gates at a microscopic level.
"Logic gate simulation sequence complete," VEDA's smooth voice suddenly announced through the laptop speakers. "Zero electron leakage detected in the simulated 14-nanometer silicon pathways. The foundational physics engine is stable."
"Good. Save the workspace," Siddanth instructed, satisfied with the micro-payoff of a grueling three-hour coding sprint.
His phone buzzed on the desk, shattering the silence. Siddanth hit the speakerphone button.
"What is it Rahul," Siddanth answered.
"Sir," his executive assistant's highly organized voice came through the speaker. "I'm calling about a developing PR situation. Are you currently looking at the internet?"
"No," Siddanth sighed, rubbing his eyes. "What did David Warner do now?"
"It's not Warner, sir. It's you," Rahul corrected carefully. "The selfie you took with Sonakshi Sinha and Yami Gautam last night after the football match has gone viral. The entertainment portals have linked it back to your Aap Ki Adalat interview. They are currently running heavily sensationalized stories implying a romantic relationship between you and Miss Gautam. She tweeted a clarification an hour ago, but it has only fueled the trending hashtags."
Siddanth frowned, a deeply sour expression crossing his face. He picked up his personal phone, opened Twitter, and clicked on the trending tab. He scrolled through the top ten posts, reading the wild, entirely fabricated romantic narratives the fans had constructed over a simple thirty-second interaction.
He let out a sharp, irritated breath. He despised this aspect of fame. He didn't mind the cricketing scrutiny or the business analysis, but the invasive, entirely fictional gossip surrounding his personal life was something he had actively tried to avoid.
"I see it," Siddanth said, his voice flat.
"The NEXUS PR team is asking for instructions, sir," Rahul informed him. "Should we issue a formal press release denying the rumors? Or perhaps legally threaten the portals running the unverified stories?"
"No. Absolutely not," Siddanth rejected the idea instantly. "If NEXUS issues a formal statement about a Bollywood gossip rumor, it elevates a stupid Twitter trend into a legitimate news story. It makes it look like we are panicking. We ignore it. Complete radio silence from our end. The internet has the attention span of a goldfish; they will find a new controversy to obsess over in forty-eight hours. Let it die organically."
"Understood, sir. I will instruct the PR team to stand down," Rahul confirmed efficiently.
"Thanks, Rahul."
Siddanth ended the call. He tossed his phone onto the desk, running a hand through his hair in frustration. The media circus didn't bother him personally, but he immediately thought of the potential collateral damage.
He didn't care what the media thought, but he cared deeply about what Krithika thought.
He knew perfectly well that she was secure in their relationship, but waking up to see your boyfriend trending on national social media with a famous Bollywood actress was enough to ruin anyone's morning. He wanted to clear the air immediately before the gossip blogs started taking absolute liberties with the narrative.
He picked his phone back up and dialed her number.
The phone rang three times before it connected.
"Hello?" Krithika's voice came through, sounding slightly breathless and distracted. In the background, Siddanth could hear the distinct, rhythmic sound of traditional Telangana folk music and the loud chatter of several women.
"Hey. Where are you?" Siddanth asked, his frown deepening in confusion. "It sounds like a festival in the background."
"I'm at your house in Shamshabad," Krithika replied, her voice raising slightly over the music. "Aunty called me yesterday and insisted I come over early this morning. We are preparing the Bathukamma."
Siddanth blinked, the pieces suddenly clicking into place. It was late September. The vibrant, nine-day floral festival of Bathukamma, deeply celebrated across Telangana, was underway. It involved women gathering to arrange beautiful, concentric layers of seasonal flowers into a massive, conical mound to honor the Goddess Maha Gauri.
"You're making the Bathukamma with Amma?" Siddanth asked, a small, genuine smile finally breaking through his annoyance.
"Yes, and she is an absolute perfectionist," Krithika laughed softly. "I tried to place the Gunugu puvvulu (celosia flowers) on the third layer, and she practically swatted my hand away because the color symmetry was wrong. Your mother does not mess around when it comes to festivals, Sid."
Siddanth chuckled. "She takes it very seriously. Tell her not to bully you."
"I am perfectly capable of handling myself, Mama's Boy," she retorted warmly. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to be resting today? Why are you calling so early?"
Siddanth leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his tone turning serious. "I wanted to talk to you before you opened Twitter or turned on the news channels. There's a stupid PR situation developing online."
"Oh?" Krithika's tone shifted, the background noise muffling slightly as she presumably walked into a quieter room. "What happened?"
"It's about a photo," Siddanth explained carefully, wanting to be entirely transparent. "After the match, Sonakshi Sinha and Yami Gautam came up and asked for a quick selfie. Because I mentioned Yami's name on that TV interview in aap ki adalat, the internet has decided to completely lose its mind. They are spinning these massive, entirely fabricated gossip stories about us."
Siddanth paused, waiting for her reaction. He braced himself to offer a lengthy explanation about how he had only spoken to the actresses for thirty seconds.
Instead, a sharp, loud laugh echoed through the phone.
Krithika was laughing. Not a sarcastic, angry laugh, but genuine, unadulterated amusement.
"You're laughing?" Siddanth asked, slightly bewildered.
"Sid, I saw the picture an hour ago on Vibe," Krithika said, still giggling. "Anjali sent it to me immediately, fully expecting me to have a meltdown. She was highly disappointed when I didn't."
"You aren't bothered?" he asked softly, a wave of immense relief washing over him.
"Bothered? Why would I be bothered?" Krithika asked, her voice brimming with absolute, unwavering confidence. "Sid, I know exactly what kind of man you are. I know that after hitting a forty-yard goal in front of the entire Bollywood elite, you went back to your hotel room to write code instead of going to the afterparty. You are a massive, dedicated nerd."
Siddanth smiled, staring down at the complex code on his monitor. She knew him perfectly.
"The internet loves drama, Sid," Krithika continued smoothly, possessing an incredible level of maturity. "You are young, rich, and famous. They will literally gossip if you talk to a female reporter for more than five minutes. If I let online rumors and photoshopped fan edits affect my peace of mind, I would go insane. I trust you completely. There is absolutely no need to worry about it."
Siddanth let out a long, slow sigh, leaning his head back against the chair. The tension that had coiled in his neck since Rahul's phone call completely evaporated. The absolute trust she placed in him was his greatest anchor.
"Thank you, Krithi," he said quietly. "I just wanted to make sure."
"You're welcome. Now, stop stressing about Twitter and get back to whatever supercomputer you are building," she ordered playfully. "I have to get back to the courtyard. Aunty is going to yell at me if I don't finish arranging the marigolds on the base layer."
"Don't ruin the symmetry," Siddanth teased. "I'll call you tonight. Have fun."
"Bye, Sid."
Siddanth ended the call, tossing the phone aside. The sour expression was entirely gone. He didn't care if the entire country shipped him with a Bollywood actress; the only opinion that mattered was currently arranging flowers with his mother in Shamshabad.
He turned back to his monitors, his focus razor-sharp, and resumed compiling the simulated logic gates.
While Siddanth Deva remained blissfully isolated in his hotel room, entirely ignoring the entertainment gossip, an entirely different narrative was unfolding on the corporate television networks.
The sporting world obsessed over his batting average, and the entertainment world obsessed over his social life, but the financial sector obsessed over his balance sheets.
[BUSINESS NEWS BROADCAST - CNBC-TV18]
The broadcast cut to the highly sophisticated, multi-screen CNBC-TV18 studio in Mumbai. The ticker at the bottom displayed the fluctuating stock prices of India's top public companies. The Managing Editor and anchor, Shereen Bhan, looked directly into the camera.
Shereen Bhan:"Good morning. We usually leave the analysis of Siddanth Deva to the sports networks, but today, Dalal Street is buzzing with rumors regarding a massive, multi-billion dollar land acquisition in Hyderabad by NEXUS for a state-of-the-art smart stadium and a semiconductor company. NEXUS is entirely privately owned by Siddanth Deva and his CEO, Arjun Reddy. Because it is private, the exact valuation is a closely guarded secret. But today, we are going to calculate exactly how much this twenty-three-year-old cricketer is actually worth. Joining me are Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder of Info Edge, and Shankar Sharma, Global Trading Strategist. Sanjeev, let's start with their primary product: Flash Messenger."
Sanjeev Bikhchandani:"Shereen, to understand Flash Messenger, you have to look at market comparables. In February of this year, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a staggering 19 billion US dollars. Why? Because data and daily active users are the new global currency. Facebook valued WhatsApp at roughly 42 dollars per user. Flash Messenger currently controls an estimated ninety percent of the Indian smartphone market—nearly 300 million active users—and with their proprietary 1080p video-calling codec, they are rapidly expanding into Africa and Southeast Asia. The intellectual property of that compression technology alone is worth billions. You are looking at a standalone valuation of 15 billion dollars, easily."
Shereen Bhan:"15 billion dollars just for the messaging app. Astounding. But Shankar, what about Vibe and their hardware division?"
Shankar Sharma:"Vibe is redefining social media in India by perfectly merging short-form text with elite live-streaming capabilities. If we look at Twitter's current market capitalization in 2014, Vibe would easily command a valuation of 10 billion dollars. And then you have the NEXUS Bolt smartphone. They have completely disrupted the premium hardware market. They are manufacturing a phone that rivals Apple in aesthetic quality but integrates seamlessly with their software ecosystem. The hardware division is worth another 8 billion dollars."
Shereen Bhan:"Sanjeev, people often overlook how NEXUS funded this massive empire without taking a single rupee of venture capital. Let's talk about their gaming division."
Sanjeev Bikhchandani:"It's the ultimate cash cow, Shereen. People always wonder how free mobile games make billions. It's the freemium model and micro-transactions. When you have fifty million Daily Active Users, and even two percent of them spend five dollars a month on virtual items or level unlocks, you generate massive, debt-free liquid cash flow. Companies like Supercell are generating over two million dollars a day right now. The NEXUS gaming division is a 2 billion dollar entity by itself."
Shereen Bhan:"So, let's aggregate these conservative estimates. 15 billion for Flash, 10 billion for Vibe, 8 billion for hardware, and 2 billion for gaming. We are looking at a total corporate valuation of roughly 35 billion US dollars. Shankar, let's do the math on Siddanth Deva's personal net worth based on the current 2014 exchange rate of roughly 60 rupees to a US dollar."
Shankar Sharma:"Assuming Siddanth Deva holds a standard founder's majority stake of around 60 percent in NEXUS, his personal net worth sits at 21 billion US dollars. If you multiply 21 billion by the 60-rupee exchange rate, you get 1,26,000 Crores. That is 1.26 Lakh Crores INR. Shereen, Mukesh Ambani is currently the richest man in India with an estimated net worth of around 1.1 to 1.2 Lakh Crores. Siddanth Deva is officially neck-and-neck with him. He is undoubtedly the richest self-made individual under the age of thirty in human history."
Shereen Bhan:"It is a truly unprecedented phenomenon. A young man who is bowling for the Indian national team, anchors their middle order, and then quietly returns to his hotel room to run a 1.26 Lakh Crore empire. We will continue to monitor their infrastructural developments in Hyderabad. Up next, we look at the closing bells for the Asian markets..."
As the broadcast concluded, Siddanth's phone buzzed on the desk. It was a text message from Arjun.
Arjun: Did you just see CNBC-TV18? Shankar Sharma completely undervalued our gaming division by at least two billion dollars. Our ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User) in Southeast Asia is way higher than he thinks. I should call their producers.
Siddanth shook his head, a wry smile crossing his face. He typed back instantly.
Siddu: Let them undervalue it. Keep the actual cash flow hidden. I'm logging off for the day. Heading to the team meeting.
Siddanth closed his laptop. The corporate responsibilities were officially paused.
He walked over to his bed, where his heavy BCCI kitbag was resting open.
He grabbed his team jacket and walked down the hallway toward the conference room for the first official team meeting of the England tour preparation camp.
As he pushed open the double doors, the familiar, chaotic noise of the Indian dressing room washed over him.
"There he is! The Bollywood heartthrob himself!" Virat Kohli yelled from the back of the room the moment Siddanth walked in.
The entire squad erupted into laughter. Jadeja threw a crumpled-up piece of paper at him. "We thought you were going to ditch the West indies games to go shoot a romantic comedy with Yami, Sid!"
"Very funny, Cheeku. At least I'm not the one sliding on my knees pointing at the VIP box after scoring a tap-in," Siddanth shot back smoothly, taking a seat next to Ravichandran Ashwin as the room laughed again.
MS Dhoni walked to the front of the room, tapping a whiteboard marker against his hand. The laughter died down instantly, replaced by a focused, professional silence.
OVERALL CAREER STATISTICS - SIDDANTH DEVA
(Pre-England Tour 2014 Update - Cricket)
Test Matches
Innings Played: 64
Total Runs: 6,172
Batting Average: 106.41
Total Wickets: 148
Centuries (100s): 26
Half-Centuries (50s): 20
ODI (One Day Internationals)
Innings Played: 106
Total Runs: 8,817
Batting Average: 129.66
Total Wickets: 227
Centuries (100s): 35
Half-Centuries (50s): 39
T20I (Twenty20 Internationals)
Innings Played: 35
Total Runs: 2,238
Batting Average: 101.72
Total Wickets: 85
Centuries (100s): 4
Half-Centuries (50s): 19
IPL (Indian Premier League - All Time)
Innings Played: 73
Total Runs: 3,281
Centuries (100s): 6
Half-Centuries (50s): 25
Total Wickets: 130