The winter sun was already warm when Ajay walked into the Shivaji Park ground for the weekend local league match. The pitch shimmered faintly under the light—hard, dry, with a hint of green near the good-length spot. It was a surface that would give the bowlers some bounce early on.
The crowd wasn't huge, but the stands had their regulars—retired cricketers with sharp eyes, young kids dreaming of their own futures, and a handful of scouts who always kept their notebooks handy.
The Opponents
Today's opposition had a reputation. Two of their bowlers were feared in the district circuit for sheer pace—Vikram "Bullet" Singh and Danish Ansari.
Vikram was tall, with a runner's stride that seemed to eat up the pitch. His right arm came over like a whip, the ball exploding off the turf at chest height. Danish was shorter but stockier, with a skiddy action that made his bouncers hurry batsmen before they could react.
In his first life, Ajay had hated facing them. More often than not, he'd been hurried into mistimed pulls or edged into the slips. But now… now he was ready.
The Toss and the Plan
His team won the toss and decided to bat first. As the openers padded up, Ajay, slated to come in at number three, tightened his gloves. He could feel the familiar pulse in his fingers—the mixture of nerves and anticipation that every batsman lives for.
He also had a plan. This wasn't going to be about ego. He wouldn't try to dominate them from the first ball. Instead, he'd trust his timing, let the ball come to him, and play into the gaps. Boundaries would come if he stayed patient.
Early Wicket
The first over set the tone. Vikram steamed in, the ball hissing past the batsman's outside edge. By the third delivery, our opener's stumps were shattered, the middle stump cartwheeling halfway to the keeper. The crowd roared.
Ajay's turn.
First Ball Against Pace
Vikram charged in. Ajay planted his front foot early but didn't commit the bat until the last moment. The ball was a good length outside off. He let it come, angled the bat, and guided it softly past gully for a couple of runs.
The system pinged faintly in his head:
Special Progress: Handling Pace Bowling +3
A smile touched his lips. It was working already.
Settling In
The next few overs were a test. Vikram kept hitting the same spot, trying to force an edge. Ajay left anything unnecessary, defended solidly, and punished only the overpitched ones. A cover drive off the fourth over drew gasps—crisp, perfectly timed, threading the gap between cover and mid-off.
Danish came on from the other end, and immediately switched to short-pitched stuff. Ajay ducked the first, swayed away from the second, then on the third, rolled his wrists over a hook shot that landed safely near the square leg fence for four.
Special Progress: Handling Pace Bowling +7
The Turning Point Over
By the tenth over, Ajay was seeing the ball like a beach ball. Vikram pitched one just a fraction fuller than usual, and Ajay pounced—driving straight back past the bowler for four. The sound off the bat was pure, a crack that turned heads in the stands.
Vikram tried to respond with a yorker, but Ajay dug it out, running two. Then came a bouncer—Ajay swiveled and pulled, not hard, but precise, sending it one bounce to the fine leg boundary.
The Crowd Reacts
From the stands, a murmur began to build. The kid wasn't just surviving—he was controlling the game. A few older men leaned forward, muttering approval. One scout scribbled something in his notebook.
Ajay kept his focus narrow. No looking at the scoreboard, no thinking ahead. Just this ball, then the next.
Partnership Building
At the other end, his partner started freeing his arms too. Together, they turned the strike over smartly, frustrating the quicks. By the 20th over, the pace duo had been forced off, replaced by spinners. Ajay shifted gears immediately, using his feet to loft them over the infield.
The system notifications kept coming:
Batting – 87/100 → 93/100Special Progress: Handling Pace Bowling +12
The Milestone
On 48, Ajay faced Danish again, back for his second spell. The first ball was full on the pads, and Ajay flicked it fine for four. The second—short and wide—was cut past point for another boundary.
Fifty came up. He acknowledged the applause with a quiet lift of the bat, then reset his stance. This was just another step on the ladder.
Finishing the Innings
Ajay finished on 86 not out, with 54 of those runs coming against the two quicks. His boundaries were clean, his strike rotation constant, and his defence almost untouched. More importantly, the Handling Pace Bowling progress bar had jumped massively, pushing his batting skill closer to the next level.
Coach's Words
As they walked off, Coach Sharma clapped him on the shoulder. "That's how you play pace. Soft hands, patience, and the kill shot when it's there. Keep this up and district trials won't just be an invitation—they'll be a formality."
Ajay smiled, but inside, the fire burned hotter. Every match like this was another brick in the wall he was building toward Ranji, toward the Bharatiya team, toward the World Cup.