God of Cricket!-Chapter 49: Strengths

Chapter 49: Strengths

"Aryan, can you pass me the water bottle?" Rohit Sharma said with his hand stretched out, sitting on the bench at The Oval.

Aryan picked up the plastic bottle and threw it at him casually.

"Listen up guys," Coach Kulkarni said, drawing all the attention of the players.

Rohit, who was in the act of catching the thrown water bottle from Aryan, got interrupted by the coach’s sudden voice, leading to the water bottle smacking him square on the face.

Bonk!

This act brought sudden laughter to the players who couldn’t stop laughing at Rohit’s stunned expression. Even Coach Kulkarni had to join in on the laughter.

"Okay guys, that’s enough," Coach Kulkarni said after the players had laughed for a bit.

"You’ve trained well today, but you have to keep it in your mind that the MCA expects more from you this season," he said while looking at the players.

After a moment, he continued, "Keep it up in the afternoon session and let’s see this training match through. Now we wait for Coach Amre."

Coach Praveen Amre entered the dressing room as soon as Kulkarni finished.

"Okay guys, you’ve batted well in the nets, but you have to understand that our opponent for the practice match, Surrey 2nd XI, knows these conditions better than us. Don’t relax and keep improving," Coach Amre said.

After his speech, he left the players to do whatever they liked with the remaining 10 minutes of the lunch break.

Aryan, with ten minutes to do whatever he wanted, decided to enter the System’s simulation.

With a thought, the translucent screen that only he could see came up.

Aryan navigated to the Simulation Hub before entering it.

[Would Host like to enter the simulation for 1 hour simulation time?]

Cost: 100 SP | Balance: 2300 SP

[Yes / No]

Aryan immediately chose ’Yes’ and was sent to the simulation. To the players outside, it looked as if Aryan was just taking a power nap with a towel over his face.

Aryan, after going through the System’s catalog in the simulation hub, chose the match he played against Delhi U19 (Vinoo Mankad Final).

Aryan decided to replay a bit of that match to improve his match sharpness against swing bowling.

After Aryan chose his option, the simulation immediately replicated the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the atmosphere of the match played against Delhi.

All the players and everything from that match were replicated. "Really worth the huge upgrade," Aryan said.

Aryan immediately got into the match and started doing his thing. Aryan played this match without any restrictions as his simulated teammates and opponents played their utmost best.

After the one-hour simulation time was up (which felt like minutes in real time), Aryan was ejected out of the simulation hub.

Aryan had had a fruitful simulation game as he scored a quickfire 40 and took two wickets in the simulation game.

Aryan checked his Nokia phone only to see that just 5 minutes had passed after he entered the simulation for an hour.

Aryan quickly got up and started wearing his spikes, and a few minutes after that, the players were walking out to the field again.

The Surrey 2nd XI players started staring at Aryan. Some with genuine surprise and admiration after hearing the rumors of the Indian prodigy.

Others with envy and jealousy as Aryan had probably done what most of them wouldn’t be able to do in their careers—secure a lucrative contract at 15.

The players started going onto the pitch again, and the small crowd of Indian diaspora fans who saw the players coming back started cheering loudly once more.

Aryan, who was walking out to bat (as it was a practice match, flexible rules applied), looked at the Surrey bench and made eye contact with Kevin while smiling.

"Why is he smiling at me?" thought Kevin.

The umpire, after looking at his watch, decided to call "Play" to begin the afternoon session.

Surrey 2nd XI immediately got into the attack. They had a tall fast bowler who sent a long ball—I mean, a bouncer—forward to test the young batsman. It seemed they intended to make it count this time.

Their bowler immediately followed up with a yorker. The fast attack had surprised the Mumbai players initially, but they had reorganized themselves and coped well with the pace.

Aryan, who was currently batting with Abhishek Nayar, decided to target the Surrey spinner standing near the edge of the circle.

The Surrey bowler, who currently held the ball, decided to make a cross-seam delivery after seeing his fielders in position.

Unfortunately for him, the ball was picked early by Aryan.

Aryan saw the flighted ball coming his way. He immediately rushed to take possession—I mean, stepped out to meet the pitch of the ball.

Aryan, without looking back, used the pace of the ball to guide it past the short-leg fielder behind him before turning to run.

Aryan looked like a beast possessed after he got his eye in.

With his World Class pace (Speed 90), Aryan immediately pushed for a quick two before running to catch up with the crease.

Aryan, after he got back on strike, immediately began dominating across the pitch with the bat in his hand.

Aryan maneuvered the ball gracefully across the ground, piercing gaps at will. None of the Surrey fielders were catching up to the ball as it raced to the boundaries.

All except for one Surrey fielder who had decided not to give up and chased a ball to the boundary.

Aryan, who was about to complete a third run in a few seconds, saw himself nearly colliding with the bowler who was backing up.

The Surrey player had tried to collect the throw but had failed successfully, obstructing the path.

Aryan felt a sharp pain in his ankle as he turned sharply to avoid the collision, before it immediately vanished.

"What was that?" Aryan thought.

The umpire, after seeing this, immediately signaled a dead ball or obstruction warning.

Aryan took his stance again. He saw that the field was set back; the boundary was about 70 meters away.

"It looked a bit closer when I hit it last time," he muttered.

"Try hitting it straight," Nayar said as he punched gloves with Aryan.

The position was perfect for a lofted drive, and Aryan also intended to send the ball into the stands.

Aryan, with his mind set, took his stance and looked down the track, only to find the long-off fielder’s positioning all wrong.

Aryan immediately had a change of mind and decided to go over extra cover.

Rohit and Dhawal, who saw this from the pavilion, had only one thought in their minds. "He’s going to try and hit it out of the park."

Aryan looked at the bowler once more before being finally ready.

The bowler ran in, and Aryan, with a speedy bat swing, smacked the ball with all the raw power he could muster in his wrists.

The ball took off from the bat and seemed to be mistimed until it began its sudden ascent.

The Surrey wicketkeeper, whose eyes were locked on the ball, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The ball seemed to be moving all over the place in the air—the knuckleball effect off the bat? No, just pure swing.

The crowd, the players, the bench, and the whole Oval looked on as the ball smacked the roof of the pavilion stand.

SIX!

The fans and the players were all stunned by the shot from Aryan.

Everyone turned to face Aryan who also stood still, not believing it had actually gone that far.

Aryan tried to walk and celebrate but found out soon enough that he couldn’t as his right ankle was throbbing fervently.

Aryan sat on the ground as his teammates ran towards him to congratulate the 50.

Wasim Jaffer, who was near as the runner/umpire, got to him first after he saw Aryan sit on the ground.

After noticing that Aryan was injured, he immediately stopped his teammates from jumping on him.

Coach Amre’s heart sank after he saw Aryan sit on the ground.

Sigh "Let’s hope it’s not serious," he said as he signaled the physio to go and check him out.

The medical team immediately ran onto the pitch after the match was paused.

After the inspection, the physios concluded that it wasn’t that serious—a mild twist—but it would be advisable to take him off as a precaution.

The medics immediately helped Aryan off the ground as they saw Coach Amre making a change.

The whole stadium, both friend or foe, started clapping for Aryan as he got retired hurt for the wholesome performance he had given throughout the session.

[Announcer]

’Aryan Sharma retires hurt. Sushant Marathe replaces him.’

The fans were a bit surprised to find out that the young prodigy was human after all.

"Wait, is he okay?" a spectator in a Surrey shirt said.

"Looks like a twist. Hopefully, he recovers," another fan contributed.

As the conversation in the stands continued, Aryan got off the pitch.

The umpire continued the match after the substitution with Mumbai looking dominant.

Surrey 2nd XI Innings (Chase)

The match eventually became a back and forth as Surrey tried to chase down the target set by Mumbai.

This continued till the final hour of play and was only stopped by a change from the Surrey team.

Kevin, who was on the bench watching the match, was surprised when he was told to pad up.

And now he was being sent in to bat.

[Kevin POV]

’Okay, calm down. It’s just a regular match against a team from India.

But how can I calm down when I’m about to play against the Mumbai Ranji champions?

Wow, I’m nervous.

How was Aryan able to play through this? He’s watching.

I’m finally batting. Calm down and let’s make the most of this.’

Aryan, after seeing Kevin walking out to bat from the dressing room balcony (ice pack on ankle), couldn’t help but smile.

"Everyone gets a chance, it’s up to you to make it count," he thought as he looked at Kevin.

Kevin, after coming on, immediately settled into the match. All the nervousness had vanished like it was never there in the first place.

Kevin immediately got to work and started playing a composed innings.

Driving here and there and trying to set the fielders running.

His partners were getting out at the other end, but Kevin was relentless as he kept on doing what he does best—batting.

He was eventually rewarded in the final overs when he received a loose ball from a Mumbai spinner.

Kevin, after getting the ball in his arc, immediately looked to find the boundary on the leg side.

Kevin used his English technique and got down on one knee before sweeping the ball powerfully.

The ball flew off the middle of the bat.

It soared over the square leg boundary.

SIX!

The goal—I mean, the six—sent the local Surrey fans into a frantic state as the cheers and jubilation continued.

Kevin quickly punched the air.

Unfortunately for them, the Mumbai bowling attack (led by Agarkar) proved tough for them after that, and the match ended in a win for Mumbai.

The fans at the stadium clapped for the players as they had given them a thrilling day of cricket.

A match where there was never a dull moment.

Aryan, who was already able to limp on his own, walked over to Kevin near the boundary ropes.

"Hey, you played well," Aryan said as Kevin turned back to find Aryan behind him.

"Thanks. I’d say you too, but that would be a bit funny considering you smashed us," Kevin said.

Aryan smiled, and the two talked for a while. Finally, as Kevin turned to leave, Aryan asked if they could swap training shirts.

Kevin hurriedly agreed, and the two exchanged shirts. "This is going to sell for a lot in the near future," Kevin said, holding the Mumbai jersey.

"Probably yours too," Aryan said as they both stood there laughing.

(To be Continued)