Shrivastav got off the ground. He dusted his jersey off. Ashwandeep had won. Ali and the others ran over to him.
"We beat them!" Screamed Suraj.
Ali jumped up in the air. He had beat Excellence. The team that destroyed Ashwandeep in the original timeline. This time however, it was in the qualifiers instead of in the bracket seeding.
Ali wasn't in St Alphonso this time. He was still in Ashwandeep. Manish got up from his chair and ran over to the Ashwandeep team.
"You guys did it!" Said Manish. "Now if you guys win the other two matches, we qualify for the tournament!"
"And by that time, your fracture will be gone!" Said Ali. "You can play with us in the tournament."
" Yeah." Said Manish. "Just win the remaining two matches."
"I will." Said Ali. "No matter what."
Akib walked over to Ali. He had finally gained a rival who was as good as him in analyzing and captaincy.
"Good game." Praised Akib, before holding his hand out for a handshake. "I hope we can face each other like this once again."
"Maybe we will play together in the future." Said Ali. "There's the state and national team."
"Of course." Said Akib. "I hope to see you in the tournament as well."
"You will." Countered Ali. "And we will defeat you guys again."
Anzal walked over to the two of them.
"Can we talk, Akib?" Asked Anzal, with none of his usual angry or cocky demeanor.
Ali was surprised. Why was Anzal suddenly acting like this? He had always hated Akib in the original timeline. Did he do something that caused this?
What Ali did not know was that due to his improvement in skill compared to the original timeline, Akib saw him as more of a threat.
Because of this Akib had prepared more for this match, leading to him being able to predict bowling patterns of the Ashwandeep bowlers. This along with Akib's pep talk after he got out, made Anzal give more respect to Akib.
Akib told his goodbyes to Ali, and went back to talk with Anzal.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Asked Akib. "Our loss?"
"No, I wanted to talk about something else." Told Anzal. "I actually wanted to apologize."
"No, you don't need to apologize." Countered Akib. "I considered it as dialogue between teammates."
"No, I have to apologize somehow." Said Anzal.
"Apologise to me by scoring half centuries every match." Said Akib. "That's the best I can say to appease your ego."
"If you say so." Said Anzal.
Meanwhile, Jahan had once again come to see the match. He was this time, scouting Akib and Anzal, but he got the surprise of his life time after seeing Ali win the match for Ashwandeep.
"Not bad, Ali." Thought Jahan."You've surprised me once again."
After Ali had finished his discussion of the match with his fellow players, he walked to the rickshaw stand, where he took a rickshaw to his home.
Zainab was supposed to pick him up, but she suddenly was called over for a medical emergency. He opened the door of his house, and then walked inside.
He then ate his dinner, walked into his room, closed the door and slept, as he did many times before. The next day, he got up, and went to school.
The school was filled with fellow students trying to get Ali's attention.
"Ali! Can I get your autograph?" Mocked one student.
"How was Akib like?" Asked another.
Question after question was flung at Ali. He pushed through the questions, before finally getting to enter the class.
In the class too, he was bombarded with questions.
They kept on asking him questions, but then the teacher entered the class, so they had to stop.
The teacher started teaching, and Ali zoned out of the class just like many others.
After this, Ashwandeep had 2 more matches. One was against a bowling based team from a school in Chitradurga. With Ali and Zayed steering the ship, they were able to easily win the match.
The second match was against Moulana Saeed International School. The bulky Ashraf was easily subdued by Suraj, while Chirag took his wicket, after which the Moulana Saeed team had a batting collapse, which led to Ashwandeep's victory.
Ashwandeep had won all five of their qualifying matches, and hence had taken the first place on the table. The second place of course, was Excellence, who had won 4 of their 5 matches.
Who ever was first on the table could directly qualify, while the second placed team would have to play a team from the second bracket and win it to qualify.
Ashwandeep had got a further advantage. They would get a month of rest before the 16 team tournament occured in the new year.
In the one month that followed, Ali and the rest of the Ashwandeep students practiced their cricket, studied the other fifteen teams, and watched all the other qualification matches.
They had improved further than before, and most of them were now high quality prospects, and were being tracked by KCPL, district teams.
The month passed by quickly, and the new year rolled around. The Ashwandeep team prepared to enter the hall that the MDBC and Sahwit had prepared to commemorate the event. They were wearing suits, just like the all of the other players of the other teams.
320 players were in the auditorium, each representing their respective schools. Only one of these teams would be the victors. The players of the singular team that wins the tournament would get opportunities that a cricket crazy fan would die for.
From prize money to chances to enter the KCPL auction list, or the district team. Of course all the main players of the winning team would enter the district team's selection pool. The school that won this tournament would get a huge boost in reputation. That was why all sixteen teams had brought their best possible team.
The sixteen would beat each other until one remainrs. The winner, however was a question that nobody could predict.
TO BE CONTINUED
Ps: if you like what you are reading so far, why not add the book into your collection?