During long train rides and quiet hotel nights, Arjun's mind wandered beyond cricket.
He observed how foreign vendors, small businesses, and local logistics worked. He studied the patterns of supply, communication, and coordination in unfamiliar cities. Every market was a puzzle; every flow of goods and money was a series of predictable moves.
He also thought about the future: how cricket leagues could be structured, how franchises could control influence over cities and regions, and how success in sports could be leveraged into networks of wealth and power.
In his notebook, he began sketching:
Supply chain ideas for textiles and spices
Small media or sports influence hubs
Early concepts for franchise ownership in cricket, football, and other sports
A subtle web of control, using knowledge, patience, and timing
Cricket taught him patience and observation. Business ideas were training in leverage, influence, and systems. Both required the same fundamental skill: seeing the pattern before it emerged and nudging events to your design.
Even in quiet moments, Arjun simulated scenarios:
If a player underperforms, how would morale shift, and how could it be corrected subtly?
If a market fluctuates, which interventions would maximize gain with minimal detection?
If an opposition captain is overconfident, how could you exploit it psychologically?
By the end of the tour, Arjun had won both matches and respect, but he had also grown far beyond his age. While the world saw a talented under-19 cricketer, he saw a network of systems, sequences, and influence to be understood and eventually controlled.
And Guntur, still quiet and underestimated, remained the perfect base. It would be his laboratory, his den, his empire's first foundation.
The Devil had stepped onto international soil. But the mind that would one day dominate cricket, business, and influence was already far beyond the game.