Sahil didn’t realize anything was changing at first.

For him—

the tournament still felt simple.

Practice.

Matches.

Training.

System missions.

Repeat.

---

But outside the ground—

things had started exploding quietly.

---

It began after the DAV match.

Specifically—

the six against Arnav’s short ball.

---

Someone uploaded the clip online.

Then another angle appeared.

Then commentary audio got added.

Then slow motion edits started spreading.

---

Within two days—

the clip crossed school cricket pages everywhere.

---

> "School kid sends 135 km/h bouncer out of ground!"

> "Inter-school finisher is insane."

> "This guy bats like a mini T20 player."

---

Riverside boys spammed the clip everywhere proudly.

Even local cricket pages reposted it.

---

And suddenly—

Sahil’s Instagram notifications exploded.

---

+127 followers.

+342 followers.

+800 followers.

---

By the end of week—

he crossed 5,000 followers.

Which honestly felt unreal for a school cricketer.

---

The weirdest part?

People actually recognized him now.

---

One junior from another school literally asked for selfie after match practice.

Sahil stood there confused for three full seconds before agreeing awkwardly.

---

Commentary teams noticed too.

---

During next match warmups:

> "Social media sensation Sahil Choudhary warming up now."

> "That pull-shot clip is everywhere right now."

---

Kabir laughed immediately hearing it.

"Celebrity."

Sahil rolled eyes.

"Shut up."

---

But secretly—

he checked Instagram constantly now.

---

Edits.

Cricket reels.

Slow-motion sixes.

Comment sections.

Even fan pages had started appearing.

---

@SahilPowerHitter — 1.2k followers

@SC_6Machine — Match edits

@PullShotKing — Tournament clips

---

Honestly—

some names were terrible.

But still—

seeing people discuss his batting felt addictive.

---

One clip especially went viral.

The massive six against Arnav.

---

The edit slowed impact moment dramatically.

Bat swing.

Ball disappearing.

Commentary screaming.

Crowd reacting.

---

Views: 312K

Likes: 41K

---

Even Coach Verma heard students talking about it near school corridor.

And immediately warned the team afterward.

---

"Social media creates hype fast."

Then his eyes stopped on Sahil.

"But hype disappears even faster."

---

That sentence killed excitement slightly.

Because deep down—

Sahil understood what he meant.

One failure could flip everything online too.

---

Still—

the attention affected him.

Naturally.

---

He started batting slightly differently during nets.

Trying bigger shots sometimes.

More stylish finishes.

---

And unfortunately—

the system noticed instantly.

---

WARNING

External validation affecting shot selection.

Risk: Unnecessary aggression increase.

---

Sahil frowned immediately.

Because annoyingly—

the system was correct again.

---

Later that evening—

he opened one viral edit again secretly.

The comments kept flooding constantly.

---

> "Future state player."

> "Bro hits cleaner than college players."

> "District selectors better watch this kid."

---

Then one comment stood out differently.

---

> "Power is crazy... but timing improving fast too."

---

Sahil stared at that line slightly longer.

Because that—

that was the improvement he cared about most now.

Not fame.

Not followers.

Not viral clips.

Timing.

Control.

Real batting growth.

---

Still though—

when his follower count crossed 10,000 that night...

he smiled for almost five full minutes.