Chapter 28: Quest: Yet to Complete
Aryan, not stopping, kept hitting the ball. He kept looking around trying to find gaps in the field.
Deciding to go solo, Aryan danced down the track after a splendid lofted drive to the sight screen.
He hit 4 sixes in the first over.
The two opposing fielders tried to cover the boundaries, but Aryan just pierced the gaps with surgeon-like precision.
Aryan saw the next ball was a yorker. He remembered MS Dhoni, who was currently the captain of India.
Aryan raised his bat before digging the ball out with a wristy whip.
The Helicopter Shot.
The ball flew over mid-wicket like a rocket. It was a flat six.
The onlookers looked wowed as Aryan's teammates cheered from the sidelines.
"Hey, that kid is very good," a spectator said, holding a vada pav.
"Yeah, with that level of bat speed and how the game seems easy for him, I'm sure he plays in an academy," another added.
The spectators kept getting amazed by Aryan. Throughout the game, Aryan played like it was a World Cup final. This drew a lot of 'wows' from the crowd.
Aryan faced a free hit in the game which by his estimation was the match-winning ball.
Aryan stepped back before carving the ball over the point boundary for a six—a shot reminiscent of Sachin Tendulkar's upper cut.
Some of the spectators and passers-by had pulled out their chunky Nokia phones or digital cameras before Aryan took the free hit in hopes that he might hit big, and to their wishes, he scored a banger.
The spectators thought they had seen it all until Aryan played a Switch Hit for the winning runs.
This caught the spectators off guard, but some were well prepared.
One particular spectator, a young college student who ran a cricket blog and a nascent YouTube channel, captured all the good moments of the match including the Helicopter Shot and the Switch Hit.
After this, he planned to upload it on YouTube (which was gaining popularity in 2007) and post it on Orkut cricket communities.
He decided to confront Aryan after the match about the video since he wanted to know the name of this prodigy.
The match came to an end with Aryan's team winning comfortably. Aryan had scored 65* off 20 balls.
The blogger consulted Aryan after the match to talk about the video but Aryan said it was okay, not realizing the reach of the internet.
The blogger asked a few questions about Aryan and found out that he plays for the Mumbai U19 team.
This prompted him to ask about Aryan's age and he was shocked when he found out that he was just 14 years old.
The blogger wished Aryan well in his career before walking off.
Aryan saw that time had gone by a bit and decided to run home.
Aryan had taken the name of the YouTube channel from the blogger—CricketCrazyIndia—and had decided to check it later.
It skipped his mind however until the next day.
_________
Aryan woke up the next day and went out to complete his daily task after texting Ananya 'Good morning'.
After completing his mission, he remembered the blogger from yesterday and decided to check his channel on the family computer.
Aryan however smelled the sweat from his body and decided to bathe before checking it.
Aryan stepped out of the shower while drying his hair. He sat at the desk and waited for the dial-up/broadband to connect.
Aryan opened YouTube and searched for the channel.
He saw that the channel mostly consisted of cricket highlights and fan compilations. Aryan watched a bit before scrolling to the top to find the most recently posted video.
Title: 14-Year-Old Mumbai Prodigy Plays
Helicopter Shot Better Than Dhoni?!
He saw the video but his mouth gaped for a bit.
This was because the video involving him had garnered about 50,000 views. For 2007, that was viral. "The video was just posted about 14 hours ago and it already has this many views," thought Aryan as he kept scrolling.
He was tempted to check the comments and finally gave in. He clicked on the comment section and saw that the reviews were mostly asking who he was and where he played.
Some were also amazed by his game. He saw one comment which had many likes (or replies).
The comment read:
CricketLover99: Mujhe pata hai yeh kaun hai. Yeh Mumbai U19 ke liye khelta hai. I think his name is Aryan Sharma or something. (I know who this is. He plays for Mumbai U19...)
Aryan read the comment and laughed at how the internet was already connecting the dots.
Aryan read some more before turning the computer off. He felt happy about the interest in him.
Aryan went down for breakfast before lazing around the whole day, playing video games or watching movies on TV.
He waited until Priya closed from work. She took him to the BKC complex.
This was the last training session before the match with Bhopal U19s.
Training this time was a bit lighter than usual as Coach Kulkarni decided to avoid any injuries after the heavy schedule.
The players panted and sat on the grass after training was over.
Aryan however kept going at it, practicing power hitting and sprints.
"Does he pants ever get pants tired?" asked Kabir who was trying to stabilize his breathing.
"Ah leave him, he's young," said Rohan. "You talk like you're 40," Yash remarked.
Coach Kulkarni called the kids to the video room and explained tomorrow's tactics to them.
Aryan however was told he would be on the bench for the next match against Bhopal U19 because of the rotation policy, but would likely come on as a substitute fielder or impact player if needed.
Aryan went home, ate, and texted a bit with Ananya and a few other friends before he tried to sleep for the game tomorrow.
Just then the System prompted him of the challenges it had set for him.
Aryan sat on his bed and looked at the challenges.
[QUEST STATUS]
1. Host should score 300 runs and take 10 wickets in the remaining Zonal matches.
Status: Runs [295/300] | Wickets [9/10]
Reward: +5 Stat Points, +10,000 LP
Current State: Pending
2. Mumbai U19 should top West Zone Group.
Status: Completed
Reward: +10 Stat Points, +7,000 LP
3. Win in the Quarter-Finals of the 'Vinoo Mankad Trophy'.
Status: Not played
4. Win in the Semi-Finals...
Status: Not yet
5. Win the Final...
Status: Not yet
Aryan saw that the second challenge had been completed.
He looked at the first one and sighed. He needed just 5 runs and 1 wicket. Since he was benched for the start of the Bhopal game, he had to hope he got onto the field to complete it.
"Everything is going to take care of itself," he muttered.
He drifted into the night and slept.
(To be Continued)