Ashwandeep then faced CXAL, who they easily steamrolled, with Chinnar Rai taking a hat trick.
After the match, Ali shook hands with Ajit Pai, the captain and star player of CXAL.
"Good luck with Excellence." Congratulated Ajit. "You're gonna need it, with how Anzal has been playing."
Ali thanked him, before remembering about the Anzal in his past life.
Anzal was exactly like his position in the batting line up, a brash and explosive power hitting opener. He was the perfect foil to Akib.
The Excellence principal, Ramesh Charan Bhavsar, had begged Anzal to join them. Due to this, other than the college NEET topper, Anzal was the second most powerful student in Excellence.
He could leave the college at any moment, leading to a loss of Excellence's best player. In fact, he was supposed to join St Alphonso, but his father shook hands on a deal with the principal at the last moment, as he felt that his son needed to focus on the competitive exams, and not on cricket.
Anzal was annoyed, as he felt that his dad was curtailing his cricketing career. As a result he was more irritable than usual. Akib had to deal with him fighting with other players on a regular basis.
The fact that the Excellence cricket team was still staying united was due to Akib's influence. They believed that Akib would lead them to a title, and they would be scouted for the KCPL or enter the district selection list.
Akib too, had only one chance to prove himself to his parents. Most of the people in his family went on to become doctors. Relatives were watching, asking questions on why he hadn't started focusing completely on the exams. If he didn't join the district team or KCPL this year, he would have to end his cricketing career prematurely, and he did not want that to happen.
So he trained more than anyone else, ran twice as much laps compared to others, did ten times the amount of shadow batting others did and even used to go to the arcade just to play against the bowling machine in the mall. This was the hard work that produced doctor after doctor in his family, but was instead used in producing a cricketer.
In fact, Ali and Akib had crossed each other's path many times before in the park while practicing. In the original timeline, Akib would be brought by Rajasthan Royals for 3.2 Cr after impressing in the U19 World Cup, while Anzal would end up being a Ranji player who was forgotten 2 years after being hailed as the "Indian Chris Gayle".
Ali still remembered watching the auction, seeing the first person who trusted him in the district circuit, become a crorepati.
Ali stopped reminiscing about the original timeline, and went back to the van, to talk with Shrivastav about their strategy to face Excellence.
"Have you heard of the new player Excellence transferred from Manipal?" Asked
Shrivastav.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Asked Ali.
"In the original timeline, Excellence never transferred any player in the middle of the tournament." Thought Ali.
"His name is Mahit Uthman. He's a spinner from Manipal." Said Shrivastav.
Mahit Uthman? Ali had never heard that name before. But a spinner? Wasn't that what he and Zayed had trouble against? They had even accelerated the return of Milind Kamath, their spin all rounder who was also known for his learning ability.
It was like Akib had completely analyzed Ashwandeep.
Akib meanwhile, was sitting in his room, watching the low quality videos of the Ashwandeep Tournament taken using a phone. He was trying to see every angle of the players batting stance, so that he could make the perfect strategy to counter Ashwandeep.
His mom knocked on the door, asking him to open it.
He paused the video, and opened the door.
"I got the test results yesterday, Akib." Began his mom. "615. That will only get you a seat in a private medical college. Imagine what you could do if you only studied instead of this nonsense."
"Mom, I told you, this is the last year I focus on cricket." Began Akib. "If I don't get selected, then I'll only study for the exam from next year."
"Me and your dad are fine with you doing this, but your grandfather was asking about you." Stated his mom. "We can't keep hiding this from him forever."
"I know, mom." Continued Akib.
His mom saw the notebook. It was filled. Lots of points on various observations he had noticed while watching were there.
"So, is this match a selection deciding match?" Asked his mom.
"No, but we have to win as many of the next three matches." Explained Akib. "They are the strongest opponent of the three."
"Oh." Said his mom. "That batsman in the video is quite good."
"He's Ali, a batsman from Ashwandeep." Told Akib.
"Isn't Ashwandeep not having any NEET coaching?" Asked his mom.
"No, they are a school that focuses on sports." Began Akib. "In place of coaching teachers, they have coaches and grounds to play various sports."
"Okay, I'm leaving your dinner here." Stated his mom. "Don't forget to eat it."
His mom left his dinner on the nightstand, before closing the door.
While eating the dinner, he continued analyzing.
He was watching Chinnar Rai bowl against Ali, back in the inter house tournament.
He noticed how Ali initially only hit dots and singles against Chinnar Rai. Then, as Ali kept on facing every over of spin, he slowly started hitting more boundaries.
"This confirms it." Thought Akib, realizing what he saw in the CXAL vs Ashwandeep match wasn't just a coincidence.
He wrote a few words in his notebook, before going to sleep.
The next morning, Akib woke at the crack of dawn, doing his usual morning run after cleaning his room.
He then got ready to go to the park, as he had called Mahit and Anzal to practice with him.
Akib reached the park, where a few people were doing their daily running, and others were calmly sitting on benches, with the occasional asleep drunk person.
Anzal looked annoyed, like someone had sucked the life out of him.
"Practice starts at eight…" Said Anzal, annoyed. "It's literally a Sunday, sleep a little."
"So?" Asked Akib.
"A little rest never hurt anybody." Said Anzal.
"Not all of us have a guaranteed spot in the KCPL." Retorted Akib.
"Whatever." Said Anzal, clearly annoyed at him.
Mahit walked over to them, and they began practicing.
"Mahit, you are the main weapon of my plan, so do bowl as perfect of a line and length as possible." Stated Akib. "You will disrupt Ali as much as possible."
Mahit bowled a beautiful doorsa, which Anzal tried to hit but it went in between his legs.
"Dammit." Cursed Anzal, before hitting his bat onto the ground.
"Anzal, focus on facing pace, as Anirudh and Chirag aren't easy to bat against." Told Akib.
"Shut up." Told Anzal angrily.
"I'm not trying to stifle you." Began Akib. "It's just that Ali will use your tendency to hit every ball in the air against you."
"All you do is plan." Said Anzal. "When are we getting to the batting and bowling, the main part of cricket, Pep Guardiola?"
"Either be a part of the plan, and score the match winning knock, or do what you want and get trapped by Ashwandeep." Threatened Akib.
Anzal stayed quiet. He was fuming inside, but knew that he had to stay in good spirits with Akib, as he was liked a lot by the rest of the players of the team.
Mahit kept on bowling ball after ball, while Anzal and Akib kept practicing their batting stances.
Meanwhile, in another side of the park, Ali, Shrivastav and Nakul were also practicing, under Manish's watchful eye, unbeknownst to them.
Both Akib and Ali were planning, each planning to tactically outdo one another.
TO BE CONTINUED
Ps: if you like what you are reading so far, why not add the book into your collection?