One day later…
It was the first match of the tournament for Ashwandeep. Many scouts of the KCPL, state and district teams had come to watch these matches. According to the rules of the tournament, the round of 16 match would always be played at the home ground of the team that directly qualified.
Matches would also only be played in the teams that directly qualified. However, if two teams that both directly qualified faced each other, the team with the better win margin would be allowed to play the match at their home ground. They had made it so that the directly qualified teams had the maximum advantage.
Due to rule changes, Gulbarga National School had directly qualified. The 8th team that had originally directly qualified, Sprunghale Private School, withdrew from the tournament due to logistical issues.
Originally, Ashwandeep should have directly qualified as they lost 1 placement match and topped the second bracket, but Sahwit changed the criteria to "highest average run rate of indirectly qualified teams", leading to Gulbarga National taking the spot.
This was another part of Sahwit's plans. Even though he couldn't directly control the matches, he could instead use more hidden methods to force Ali back into obscurity.
For now, Sahwit's main focus was the conglomerate he slowly building towards using his system, and not the immediate removal of Ali.
The bus drove slowly towards Gulbarga, with Ali looking out of the window while the rest of the team discussed the unfairness of the situation.
"Well, just because our school isn't that rich but a bit famous, doesn't mean we should get disrespected like this!" Lamented Manish.
"In the IPL, the first placed team has an advantage over the 3rd and 4th placed teams." Countered Dalal. "The first placed team won a lot more matches than the second and third placed teams, which is why they got the advantage."
"At least in the IPL they can lose one or two matches." Said Siddarth, with disdain. "We can't lose a single match if we want direct qualification."
"Oh please Dalal, we all know that this tournament is rigged towards the richer schools." Said Zayed. "They have got such easy draws during the placement matches. Anyways Ali, what's your opinion?"
"My opinion?" Asked Ali, nonchalantly. "It doesn't really matter, to be honest. We just need to do well in the matches. That's all that's there to it."
"Well said." Said Manish. "Let's put our focus on the next match, instead of complaining about things we can't do anything about."
"Right." Ali looked at the window again, before seeing the dusty walls of Gulbarga National School appear. "We have reached, guys. Don't forget to leave the negative thoughts in the bus."
The rest of the team laughed slowly, half nervous and half happy.
Everyone got off the bus, and were greeted by a large group of Gulbarga locals screaming loud slurs and other expletives. Ali and the others pushed through the crowd, and entered the stadium.
"A warm welcome, don't you think." Said Zayed, sarcastically. This wasn't his first time he experienced this. After all, he had been part of the Ashwandeep team that reached the quarterfinals last year, so he knew such things were going to happen.
"Don't worry guys, we will silence them." Said Ali.
They got into the changing room, only to see a dildipated old and unsightly room. The floors were creaking and there was a hole in them. The roof had pieces of wood jutting out of it, and there was an unbearable smell.
"The smell.." Said Samuel, shaking his hand.
"Who put this hole in the floor?" Questioned Shrivastav. "I could have sprained my leg!"
They fumbled in the decrepit room, getting ready and then walking out to the field. Five people sat in the bleachers, each screaming nonsensical stuff to rattle the Ashwandeep players more.
"Sohan would hate this kind of tactic." Thought Ali. "Who is really doing this?"
He saw the coach. He seemed to be discussing something with his assistant. He was eyeing the Ashwandeep team while laughing discreetly.
Suddenly a hand tapped his shoulder.
"The pitch is cracked." Stated Shrivastav. "What's the plan?"
"We target Akash." Said Ali.
"Isn't he their best bowler?" Countered Shrivastav.
"That's why they won't expect it." Stated Ali. "If he starts leaking boundaries, his confidence drops a lot. And that's when we will take the win."
"Not bad." Clapped Manish, walking towards them. "It's a good idea. But we will have to time every shot perfectly."
"You're right, let's practice now." Said Ali.
They practiced every type of boundary for the next thirty minutes. Not one type of shot was spared.
The Gulbarga players walked over to the pitch. They had finally came to the stadium after a perfect rest.
Sohan walked over to Ali.
"Ali, right?" The burly wicketkeeper captain extended his hand. "Good luck, you're definitely going to need it."
"I don't need any luck to defeat you." Said Ali, countering his statement. "All I need is grit and steadiness."
"I would enjoy debating with you, but right now isn't the time for that." Said Sohan. "We have a match to play."
Ali chuckled. He remembered how Sohan was also an avid debater. The only problem though, was that he would never get beyond school level cricket, due to a car accident which would leave his legs paralyzed. A tear rolled down Ali's eye.
"Hey, why are you crying?" Asked Sohan.
"Some dust went into my eyes, that's all." Said Ali.
Luckily, the date of the car accident was on the same day that the semifinals would take place, so Ali still had time to save Sohan's future cricketing career. It was important to save it, not just because of the moral value, but due to Ali noticing Sohan's potential stat was 90. He could not let such talent to simply disappear from the cricketing ground.
After a few minutes, the umpire was ready with the coin so, Sohan and Manish walked over to begin the toss.
Sohan looked at the coin, and it was up in the air.
TO BE CONTINUED
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