The Forever Ends 7/10

Shahid was always expecting for her call and He strongly believed that one or the other day she is gonna call him from her personal number. One fine day while chatting with Amy, Shahid received a call from an unknown number. Shahid received the call. Shahid said hi, but there was no response from the other side. He continued the call for some time and eventually, he disconnected the call since there was no response from the other end. (What Shahid was thinking is that Amy might be calling from her personal number) Shahid becomes so happy but he had a confusion that He received the call while he texting with Amy, both happening in almost the same time and that forced him to believe that, it's not Amy. Moreover, he asked Amy regarding this and she confirmed that it was not her.

A couple of minutes later Shahid received a text message from the same number by saying "Hi".

(Let's call him "stranger" for the time being)

Shahid replied with "Who are you?"

Stranger: Is this Shahid?

Shahid: Yes Shahid here, may I know who you're?

Stranger: I know you, you're in a relationship with someone who studying in Don Bosco College right?

Shahid: huh? Who are you? Remember, I'm not bound to tell you my personal details, tell me who are you, otherwise bye.

(The person who called Shahid, was a bit egoistic guy, he got offended the way Shahid respond to him)

Stranger: Don't talk too much. Stay on the earth, who do u think you're? Anyways my name is John Keats, I'm Amy's cousin brother. She uses to talk a lot about you and that is why I thought of calling you

(Shahid was totally shocked...he started to scold himself for being rude at him, he was totally blank by thinking that, what a blunder he did)

Shahid: Chettayi ( means elder brother) I'm really sorry... I was not knowing you're her cousin, I thought someone is pranking me. I'm really sorry. Don't feel bad about me... I'm so so sorry.

Keats(stranger): that's okay. Even I shouted at you unnecessarily. I'm sorry for that, actually, I'm an egoistic and short-tempered person, so I will get Angry so fast... I'm sorry Shahid.

Shahid: oh. That's okay. You don't need to say sorry. Actually, it was my mistake. Anyway, How are you? And how do you got my number? Are you with Amy? How is she?

(Then Shahid told to himself, "bloody beggar Shahid, you were talking to her till this moment and now you are asking him how is she... Such Dumbo)

Keats: Hy Shahid relax.. take a deep breath... Ask me a question at a time.

Shahid: oops... I'm really sorry, that was out of excitement. So tell me chettayi how are you? How you got my number?

Keats: I'm good, actually Amy is my cousin, actually since last few months she keeps talking about you, I think she likes you.

Shahid: What??? Are you serious?

Keats: Yes. I think she likes you because I have never seen her excited and happy like this before. I still remember when I visited her last time, she wore a veil and asked me "how I'm looking in the veil? Is it matching me?" On that day even I teased her a lot with your name. Man how you made it?

For a moment Shahid felt like he seeing a dream, he pinched himself to check whether it's real or is he dreaming. No its not a dream... But how......? He couldn't believe it... Is it an illusion? Is it just me feeling? Or Is it really happening? But he didn't show that to Keats and replied to him

Shahid: I don't know. Chettayi. Btw, are you her mom's relation or Dad's?

Keats explained to him how their families are connected, what is the exact relation between them and all. In fact, Shahid didn't hear anything, his mind was wandering somewhere else. He was in some other world...

Later Keats asked Shahid's whereabouts and other details... The moment Keats disconnected the call, Shahid texted Amy and asked about Keats.

Amy asked a question instead of answering to Shahid,

Amy: What was the conversation you guys had? What did he tell?

Shahid: Nothing, he told me that he is your Cousin.

Amy: What else?

Shahid: What else he will tell?

Amy: oh okay. Then it's fine

Shahid: Ahem ahem... (from that sarcastic Cough she got to know that Keats would have told all the stories to Shahid

Amy: Shahid please don't believe what he is saying

Shahid: he didn't tell me anything. Btw, why are you worried?

Amy: nothing I'm just saying...

(Later Shahid explained her all the conversation that he had with Keats from the beginning)

Amy: Don't trust him. He is a crack.

Shahid: hey, no... I won't... Lol... (She must have understood the sarcasm in his words)

Shahid knew that Keats can make a breakthrough in his story... So he maintained a good rapport with Keats. Meanwhile, Shahid's and Amy's conversation were getting deeper and strong and so their bonding as well. The friendship with Keats had helped Shahid to gain all the information and tips he needed.

Days passed, Shahid couldn't attend few days class because he went to Kochi for his cricket camp. Though he can't use his phone all the time, he tries to talk to her whenever it's possible but still they have lost 5-6 hours of their usual chatting session. Shahid use to update her before he going to play any crucial match. He will ask her to pray for him just like he use to ask his mom. He always wanted to hear her voice before playing important matches. She use to wish him before all the important matches. Amy was his lucky charm. He could perform so well, whenever she wished him.

After the cricket camp, he went to college again, he felt so good when he saw Amy after a short gap...Shahid looked at her, just like how a hungry fox will look at the chicken when he got it after a long search... Her eyes, her smile.. her expressions... He looked at her like he saw her for the first time... she also had seen him now, but she was behaving like a stranger to him. Because she never let anyone in the class knows that She is talking to Shahid or they're keeping a good bonding over the text message. But Shahid was exactly the opposite of her. He uses to check her whenever it's possible, but he never talked to her from the class. Because he really didn't have the courage to talk to her.

On that weekend Shahid having an important tournament where he will be playing for his home team called Ra-Ones, the tournament is really crucial for him, because there was a famous club called VCC, Shahid always wanted to play for that club, and if he could able to perform well in VCC, he can easily get into Under 19 state team. So Shahid was aware of the opportunity that he is having. But the problem was the team which he plays for (Ra-Ones). Because in that team none of the players was experienced, most of them were young kids, in fact, None of them was capable of hitting a boundary since they don't have the hand power hit long boundaries. Shahid, Faisal, Baiju and Sarath were the only people who could clear the boundaries with ease. Shahid was in tremendous form, so the team and they won the first match quite convincingly. Shahid won the Man of the Match award as well. On the first match itself, he made an impression in the eyes of selectors. Followed by that, they had 2 more matches, and they played so well as a team. With 3 consecutive wins in the group stage, they reached the semi-final. All of them were so excited, but Shahid was thinking about the next game. It's not so easy to win the semi-final. There are many reasons for it. First of all, they going to play against the strongest team that Shahid had ever seen in his real-life Named as "Dynamos", even UAE international player Krishna Chandran is playing in the same team. So he knew that the real game is going to start from now. The match started. Shahid could see the fear in all his teammate's eyes coz they playing against a champion team and he knew that as a captain this is the time he needs to lead his team from the front. Before the match during the team meeting, he had given a piece of advice to his team members. We are going to play against the Lion's, we know that they're far better than us, they could win easily but we have 2 options either we can bow down our head and respect the Lion's and play surrendering game or we can keep the head up and we can play some aggressive cricket in the process of making a new lion king. The choice is ours but remember we have nothing to lose, if we lose this game, still we will be leaving the ground by keeping the head up and proudly. On the other, if we can defeat this team, its almost like we won the tournament because in the Final we need to play with comparatively a weaker team than one the one which we gonna play now. And remember if we win this tournament we will be making history, our first tournament win. Remember, the kind of respect we gonna get from the people at our place when we win this tournament, think about the scene when we walking in front of them by carrying the trophy in our hand. just Imagine that. Our players may won't have good hand power or game experience but we have better strategies than them. Since we are small kids, nobody is going to take us seriously. They will underestimate us for sure and that's our game strategy..if we could give them some big shock in the initial overs, they will become panic, it will take some time for them to regroup and to adjust their game. We need to capitalize on those moments. If we could take some more wickets or contains the run flow in those stressed moments, then we won. In between that one of Shahid teammates told him, its good to hear but what is the possibility that the same thing will happen in the ground. For that Shahid replied, there is no assurance but I hope it will happen, if not, then I have plan B. That I will tell you later. Now everyone has a task to do. The keeper should keep talking to the batsman, distract him as much as u can, the fielder has to tease and sledge the batsman as much as you can, keep provoking him, if he gets provoked, he will attack our bowlers that's the time when the batsman will make mistakes out hurry and anger. Whoever comes to crease make him feel uncomfortable as much you fielders can. First of all, they will be in the shock of losing a wicket in the initial stage

2nd the kind of teasing and provoking they gets from fielders will put them into pressure. So this is the game plan. Let's do it...

The game started, Ra-Ones won the toss and as per the plan they had, Shahid decided to bowl first.

Now there is no more fear in the eyes of players, all of them were in the mood of doing something... So energetic, a lot of noise on the ground from the fielders. There is a guy called Praveen in his team, though he is not a good player, he is good with his tongue, so Shahid kept him on the backward point, so he will be closer to the batsman and he will do the teasing and the provoking part. Shahid knew that since he is the captain and when his team is under pressure he has to lead them from the front. So he took the initial over.

He bowled initial two deliveries with good pace, though the batsman played for it, his bat couldn't able to make the connection with the bat. On the 3rd third ball, the batsman played a Wonderful shot and they took a single. Then comes the best and the dangerous batsman in Dynamos team Mr Visakh, he is a nightmare for all the bowlers, Shahid was aware of him, if this guy stayed in the crease for more than 4 overs, he will change the game by his own, so he has to take his wicket anyhow, if that happens then we can't give any better shock than this. So he decided to to take chance. On the fourth ball, he tried to bowl a fast Yorker but he missed it by inches and Vishakh punished him for a huge sixer over long-on. Which was gone a long way back? After the six He could see the fear back in his teammates' eyes. So knew he had to do something,

He has become ready to bowl the 5th bowl, shahid knew that Vishakh is going to hit him again, he could see the determination in his eyes and he realized this is the perfect time to execute his strategy since Vishakh was expecting a fast delivery coz of the aggression that a bowler supposes to have after getting smashed for long six, even Shahid was assuming that this is how the batsmen are going to think. So he decided to a slow delivery which will go against the plan of the batsman. Shahid bowl the 5th ball which was very slow yorker pitching the edge of the wide crease. Since it was wide and slow the batsman had to reach for it and he lost his timing in that process at the same time the batsman was already committed to the shot and he played for it. The ball took the top edge of the bat and gone in the air for a long way up. The keeper positioned himself under the ball and took a wonderful catch, luckily Vishakh got out on the first over itself.

All the players in Shahid's team were so happy and pumped up after the first wicket down. That literally given them more energy and they started giving the batsman a hard time... Praveen literally took the blood from the batsman's ear by keep sledging and teasing them. That really puts the batsman in huge pressure. Shahid could clearly see that in batsman's face, the batsman was so tensed.

On the last ball, he again tried for a swinging fast Yorker, Shahid knew that if he missing the length by an inch also, he gonna get hit, but at the same time he had to attack him because he is the senior-most player. So he has to take responsibility. Shahid Bowled fast inswing Yorker since the batsman was under pressure he lost the line of the ball, and he missed the ball, he got Bowled. Now the score is

1 over

7 runs for 2 wickets

Since they have got a very good start and things were going as per the plan, all were so excited, everyone supported the captain with some good bowling performance. Dynamos lost all the main players in 12 overs itself. After 12 overs they were 56 runs with the loss of 6 wickets

But every game will have a twist. Since they got some quick wickets and the score was not moving so quick, the players thought that the game is in their hands, and the fielders started relaxing. Unfortunately, Dynamos players capitalised that. On the 8th wicket, their batsmen got settled in the crease and they started scoring some quick runs. Shahid knew that their game plan will not work out if any of Dynamos batsman got settled in the crease and that's why he was pushing all his players to be aggressive, but the lack of game experience made them relax. Dynamos scored so fastly, soon Shahid's realized that they started losing the game from their hands and so they started making noise again but it was too late because the batsman was already settled down. All the bowler got smashed all over the ground. They tried all the strategies but nothing got succeed and eventually, they scored 130 runs in 20 overs.

Ra-Ones need 131 runs to win in 20 overs. Shahid knew its not going to be easy, but he was sure that, he can finish the game by his own if he stayed in the crease till the end. So his game plan was to stay in the crease till the end by playing the supporting role and asking the other batsman to attack. Because as long as Shahid is there on the crease, they all will have the confidence. So it's necessary to stay him at the crease till the end. Shahid and his brother Faisal opened the innings. They played well in the initial 4 overs and they scored 34 without the loss of wicket. But on the 5th over they lost Faisal through a Bowled. Next Baiju came to join Shahid, he also played well they both together scored 56 runs in 7 overs. But on the last bowl of 8th over they lost Baiju as well. Next Anuprasad came to the crease, Shahid told him that, he will give him the single, you need to play the attacking shot, don't bother about the wickets, just keep play your normal game and keep playing the shot, Anu went to face the first ball since he had never faced such pace bowlers in his lifetime, the pace was too much for Anu, the entire 8th over he didn't even take a single run, and Shahid asked him, "what happened to you? Why didn't you play the shots?"

In return Anu said "forget about playing the shots, I didn't even see the ball properly, I could only feel the breeze when the ball is passing me...

9th over 1st ball Shahid had given a single to Anu, again the same thing happened, in between he lost his wicket as well, followed by that, Praveen, Noufal, Sarath all came, and they all have repeated the same thing what Anu did. They tried a lot but they couldn't even fetch a single...

They were getting into deep trouble. Now 14 overs completed they could score only 64 runs in their 14 overs with the loss of 7 wickets. Now they require 66 in 6 overs with 3 wickets in hand.

Shahid realized that he can't depend on anyone anymore, he needs to play the attacking game otherwise, they gonna lose. He started attacking the bowlers now, the scoreboard started ticking so fast, the boundaries were coming so easily.. they were supposed to score 11 runs per over to win the match but instead of that, they started scoring 15 to 16 runs in every over, the game was very much in their hand. But the problem is, whenever the other batsman comes to the striker's end, they couldn't even able to rotate the strike by taking singles, and the game strategy of Dynamos was to keep Shahid away from the strike, they succeed in it quite well. Coz he was not getting any single to reach the striker's end. So that pushed him to go for the risky singles, and unfortunately, Shahid got run out when the score was at 116. With so much disappointment, he left the ground. they got all out in 118 runs and lost in the semi-final and it's obvious that they knocked out from the tournament. but still, for his all-round performance, Shahid got awarded as Man of the series and Best captain on the tournament, and Faisal got the youth icon player award as well. Followed by that he got offers from many different clubs to play for them, but Shahid knew that, if he is not playing for Ra-Ones, the team will get disappear... All the players in the team are fully dependent on Shahid, so the team itself will disappear if he leaves the team and many young guys lose their opportunity. Because they were talented but none of them could able to make mark till now. So none of them will get offers from any other club. Moreover, all the players insisted him to stay in the same club itself, coz otherwise, they will never win a match. So Shahid decided to stay in Ra-Ones itself. But he was disappointed because he was hoping to get selected for VCC, but the selectors were choosing Players only from those who have played in the final. While packing his kit, he was cursing himself Coz he went for that stupid single.

Since the tournament is over for them, Shahid took his phone from the bag, and he saw 2 missed call and a text message from an unknown number. He checked the message, there was just a hi on the message. Just like every other time, he started Hoping that, it will be Amy... So he called on that number. In return he got a busy tone....he waited for 2 min and called again. This time, it's ringing... His heart starts beating so fast... He could hear his heartbeat which was louder than the ringing tone.

To be continued