Ali looked around the hall. He saw fifteen opponents, each having their own strengths.
There was St Alphonso, the school Ali played for in his previous life, who had Aditya, their star batsman who had played in district matches, and a squad that had top school level players in every position, including former Baharys player, Ravichandran.
Excellence were another team, known for their opening duo of Anzal Hussain and Akib Hakeem, and their bowling attack which had Millind Kamath, Mahit Uthman and a host of other strong players.
Rosenberg had also qualified somehow, with their captain Marcus standing calmly, along with a new player they had transferred from Davangere South, named Bashir Hanif Sheikh.
But Ali saw a more dangerous threat in Gulbarga National School, who many believed would be eliminated in the first round of the tournament. It was because, in the original timeline, they would go all the way to the semifinals, before being eliminated by Excellence.
Their captain Sohan Joshi was talking to his teammate Akash about the tournament. Just months ago,they had lost all of their bracket seeding matches and were put into lowest losers bracket. But they had suddenly gained team spirit and had defeated every other team they faced throughout secondary qualification.
This was coupled with a complete upset of St Aemath School who were one of the former powerhouses, and were a staple of the tournament.
Once again, Sahwit took center stage. Ali silently controlled his emotions, while Siddarth looked on appreciatively.
"Hello everyone. I would first like to congratulate all of you for qualifying for this competition." He looked at all of them, before returning his eyes to his paper. "The 8 teams that have directly qualified, will face a team that did not directly qualify."
"We will now draw the matches, one from the direct teams, and one from the indirect teams."
Sahwit walked over to the two boxes, each containing eight slips of paper. He put one hand in one box, and the other in the second box.
He took two pieces of paper, one from each box.
"The first match is.." announced Sahwit, with a pause. "Excellence versus Rayan International. The second match is Christian PU College versus Esteem International. The third match is.."
Ali waited, wondering who his opponent was.
"The fifth match… is Ashwandeep versus Gulbarga National!" Announced Sahwit.
Sahwit smiled, looking at Ali. This was another part of his schemes. He knew that in the original timeline, St Alphonso would be eliminated by Gulbarga National, courtesy of Ali's bowling. Sohan had struck every ball of Ali's in that match. Even in batting, Ali was ducked out by Akash.
Ali started panicking internally.
"So this.. was what Sahwit was planning.. Dammit!" Lamented Ali.
Ali could not think of anything but Sohan and Akash. Akash's fast bowling, Sohan's setting of the field, his batting skills, and how he was completely humiliated in that match.
It was the beginning of his downfall, as he might have got selected for the district team, but only due to Akib trusting him and Kishan's injury did he even get a starting spot in the district team.
He calmed himself. He couldn't let the rest of his teammates see him like this. He looked at Sohan again, a new sense of determination in his eyes.
"I have to win this time, no matter what!" He declared it to himself.
After a few more words by Sahwit, the players were left to socialize with each other.
Marcus came over to Ali.
"Can't believe it!" Exclaimed Marcus. "The great Ashwandeep did not directly qualify? How suprising!"
"Aren't we the reason you guys got sent to the indirect qualifiers?" Taunted Samuel.
Bashir walked in between them, and blocked both of them.
"Guys, stop fighting." Said Bashir.
Marcus backed off, with Bashir carrying him away while saying, "See you on the pitch again."
Ali showed a thumbs up, with Bashir showing him one back.
They were then called over by Akash, who wanted to greet his opponent.
"Ali!" Called Akash. "You remember me?"
"Akash, right?" Said Ali.
Akash used to go to the same nursery as Ali, and both of their parents were close friends. This was why he knew of Ali.
Ali however, did not know as much about him, but he decided to go along with it.
"Our parents will be happy to see us face each other, don't you think?" Said Akash.
But Ali knew the truth. In the future, Akash would be caught for assault and battery of someone he knew. He was just a sweet talker who was decent at cricket, and here he was, trying to use his parents to curry favor with Ali.
"Well, of course. But I won't go easy on you." Said Ali.
"Alright, I'll see you later." Returned Akash.
Ali immediately pushed him away through conversation, as he didn't like to associate with such people.
The rest of the event was spent in discussing with others on various topics and eating. Akash tried to enter Ali's conversations once or twice, but Ali swatted him away.
Ali left the large hall, tired of all the small talk. He looked over his shoulder, before entering the bus and going to his home which was nearby a bus stop. He then walked over to his house, opened the door and then put his bag down, before going to sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED
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