NPS vs DPS

 “Anyone started their preparation for the term exams?” The lecturer asked as he got ready to leave. A few front benchers shot their hands up in the air, with absolute confidence. “Good. Others, I advise you to do the same as well. You’ve a lot of free time after you go back to your room, so use that time sensibly, cuz’ if you don’t start now, you won’t be able to complete the syllabus in time.” Saying so the lecturer left the classroom. The students dismissed themselves from the classroom after that. A few of them stayed behind as Srinu hung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of there. 

After changing into his sports jersey, Srinu took his aged BDM bat, lying in a corner of the club room. As he was about to leave the room, its door squeaked open and one of the teammates of Srinu appeared behind it. “Subbu is calling you.” Sameer said... 

Srinu observed a lot of new faces entering the ground. He guessed the man with disheveled hair and rumpled clothes, shaking hands with some other guy, at the center of the ground, as their Coach. 

 “What’s going on?” Srinu asked Sameer, looking at the bus from some other school standing near the entrance gate. 

 “It’s 1st April today.” Sameer replied casually. 

“So?” Srinu asked. 

“Arey, it’s a tradition between NPS and DPS to conduct a sports meet on 1st April of every year. All the other Sports are done with their games; we’re the only ones left.” 

 “Oh, so what is special about 1st April?” 

“The birthdays of both of our principals, who are twin brothers, fall on this day. Right after they became the principals of our schools, they’ve made it a tradition to conduct a sports meet on this day of every year.” Subbu replied, standing a few steps away from Srinu and Sameer.

As Srinu checked out the opposition team, Amir sir turned and walked back to his team. 

 “Alright it’s gonna be a 10 overs match, if you guys don’t disturb me during that time, you all will get your grace marks….” The coach said, yawning.

 “Is he always like this?” Srinu asked, looking at the coach saunter towards the watchman’s chair, near the security room. 

“Yeah.” Subbu let out a forced sigh. “Don’t bother about him.” Saying so, he stepped towards the DPS captain, who was standing next to his coach, with a coin held in his hand. 

“Alright, let’s get done with this.” The opponent coach said, with a hint of impatience in his voice. 

“Heads” Subbu called, as the DPS captain (Karthik) tossed the coin in the presence of their coach, who was standing as the umpire of that match. The DPS won the toss and chose to bat first… 

After placing the iron stumps at both the ends of the dusty pitch (in the middle of the ground), Subbu set up the field for the first over of the match. He then took a red colored ball from the umpire. As he glanced at it, the evening sun light reflected off the shiny letters imprinted on the ball and gleamed on his face. “DSC MATCH GRADE” It read. He gripped the ball tightly. 

As the DPS captain marked his guard and took his stance, Subbu got ready to bowl the first ball of the innings. Subbu started his run-up, just a few steps away from the popping crease. He skipped into the air, just a step away from the crease and then planted his left foot, right on the crease, after landing on his right foot. He swung his arm, as he continued into the follow through and rolled his index finger over the ball as he released it, making it spin towards the fine leg…. 

The ball pitched at a good length area, in line with the 4th off stump. As it spun towards him, Karthik stayed within the crease and blocked the ball with the full phase of his bat. The ball remained dead on the ground, after a couple of bounces. Subbu bowled his 2nd delivery with the same line and length. After pitching, it spun by the same angle as it had before. This time, Karthik moved deep within the crease and pushed the ball, on his back foot, towards the square leg fielder and then ran for a quick single. Subbu bowled the next 2 deliveries at the same length and line. Bhanu, who defended against the first ball, stayed within the crease and picked the 2nd ball with an angled bat and sent it flying over the infield, towards the mid-wicket area. After a couple of bounces, the ball ran past the boundary line (drawn using chalk powder).

“Oh! What beauty! He has hit that over the infield.” A loud voice spoke through the speakers, located at every corner of the school. Srinu looked around curiously, searching for the source of the familiar voice. 

“Bhanu has opened his tab with a classic boundary.”

After a few moments of scanning the school, Srinu spotted a boy standing on the terrace of the school building, with a mic in his hand. It was Mohammed. A few students were standing near him. 

The 5th ball of the over was again a good length, outside off stump delivery, spinning towards the batsman. Bhanu again swung his bat across his shoulders and picked the ball with an angled bat and sent it flying over the infield. 

“It’s a same ball and a same result.”

Bhanu took the batting stance, as Subbu was about to start his run-up towards the crease. The ball left Subbu’s hand and again pitched at a good length area, but just a tad inside of the 4th off stump and a little bit shorter. Judging it to be the same delivery, Bhanu again swung his bat and tried to hit the ball over the infield. But this time, instead of being middled by the bat, the ball took a hit from the top half and eyeballed directly towards the fielder at mid-on position and comfortably landed in his hands. 

“Tch! You blockhead. That’s what happens when you swing blindly.” Karthik thought as Bhanu walked back towards their room, feeling pissed at himself. 

“That was a really poor shot by the batsman.” Mohammed said through the speakers. “The ball got popped up, towards the Mid-on fielder and landed in his hands, comfortably. Even though it was the same delivery, for some reason Bhanu couldn't execute the shot properly.” 

“Same ball?” Gopal (DPS coach) thought to himself as he looked at Subbu and his teammates, celebrating the wicket. “Yeah right! That was not at all the same ball. He cleverly made it look like a similar delivery, by bringing only a small difference to his line and length. I guess, I should have warned the new guys about his ball control skill.” 

The last ball of the over, turned out to be the same ball as before. This time the new batsman just blocked the ball, on his backfoot. 

“Subbu’s over is up, I wonder who is gonna bowl the next over.” Mohammed said. 

As Kiran stood ready at the start of his run-up, Karthik checked the new field set and took the batting stance. The first ball of the over was pitched at a good length area and in-line with 5th off stump. Karthik moved to his right and blocked the ball with the solid face of his bat. 

Kiran once again made the ball to pitch in same area and once again Karthik moved and blocked the ball. The third ball of the over again pitched at a good length and in the same line as before. This time Karthik stood in his place and raised his bat with high backlift. As the ball closed in, he swung the bat from a higher to lower position and through the line of the ball. The ball, after being hit into the ground, galloped towards the backward point boundary. The player at the square third man position immediately started running along the boundary line and intercepted the ball, stopping it from going over the line. He then immediately looked at the pitch and threw the ball towards the Keeper. After a couple of bounces the ball reached near the Keeper, by which Karthik had just safely reached inside the crease, completing his second run. The fourth ball was again bowled in the same area and the same thing repeated itself, only this time Karthik didn’t wait for the ball to cross the infield and called his partner for a run as soon as the ball left his bat. Consequently, he completed his second run comfortably. 

Feeling the need to bowl something else, Kiran received the ball from the hands of one of the new players. “Anna, bowl the same ball.” The player whispered as he handed over the ball to his senior. Feeling a little puzzled and a little insulted at the advice from his junior, Kiran got ready to bowl his next ball.

As he swung his arm, Kiran unknowingly released the ball from the same position. The ball hit the deck in the same place as before. It got hit by the bat in a similar way. After hitting the ground, the ball rocketed towards the backward-point boundary. As the ball just crossed the infield, a hand sprung out of nowhere and captured the ball. 

Karthik’s partner who was only a few steps out of the crease, suddenly sensing the danger, abandoned his sprint and yelled at his captain to go back. Karthik, who had ran halfway down the pitch, stopped and turned in a hurry, He saw a young boy, come out of a roll, on the ground, with the ball firmly held in his left hand. Before Karthik could react and could run towards the crease, the player bulleted the ball at the iron stumps and made them crash onto the ground... 

 “Woah! That was a sensational piece of fielding from Parth. He covered the distance between forward point and backward point within the blink of an eye.” 

As Subbu and some of his teammates ran to Parth and ruffled his hair, Karthik walked off the ground, feeling completely surprised at the way Parth had fielded his shot. He then entered the classroom, which was allotted as their dressing room. 

“Woah! That guy caught the ball, almost behind him.” one of the teammates of Karthik said, as the captain entered the room. “He anticipated the trajectory of the ball, way before it had left the bat.” 

“That wasn’t an ordinary save just now.” Bhanu said. “Who is that guy?” He asked one of the teammates. “Never saw him before.” The teammate replied. “Must be a new student.” 

Karthik considerately watched Parth, as he jogged back to his fielding position. 

As the next batsman arrived and took strike at the crease, Kiran got ready to bowl the last ball of his over. The ball pitched again at a good length, far wide of the 5th stump line. Gaurav, the new batsman, stepped far out and a bit across and blocked the quick delivery. The ball hit the ground and bounced, high up in the air and landed in Parth's hands, who was standing a little closer to the pitch. The batsman looked at Parth with a hint of nervousness in his eyes, as the star fielder slowly tossed the ball to one of his teammates. 

For the first 4 overs, Subbu and Kiran had contained their opponents, and had earned some early wickets. Right from the first ball of the 5th over, the batsman at the crease started changing the tides of the match, by attacking every ball, as they found the rest of the bowling attack pretty easy to face. (According to the MCC’s Laws of cricket, each bowler is limited to bowl only 20% of the total overs). 

By the end of the 7th over the score had reached 49-4. The batsmen at the crease were well settled and were looking to score a whole lot of runs against the below average bowling levels of the rest of the NPS Team.

“Srinu, can you bowl?” Subbu asked, intending to test the new player. 

“NO!!!” Kiran yelled, before Srinu could say anything. All the NPS players who were gathering near their captain, were startled by Kiran. 

“Why?!” Subbu asked, frightened. 

“Listen to me, don’t ask him to bowl, if you want to live.” 

“F-Fine” Subbu said, hesitantly, after a few moments of regarding the terror-struck face of Kiran, leaving Srinu utterly disappointed. Forced to continue the innings with the bowlers he had, Subbu tried to finish the innings while taking minimum damage. 

At the end of the 10th over the score was 80-4. 

“What a comeback from the DPS team! Unbelievable, at the end of the 4th over, the score was just 20 runs for a loss of 4 wickets, but with some exceptional batting performance, the 5th down and the 6th down batsmen have summed up a total of 80 runs by the end of the 10th over.”  

“Srinu, Pad up. You and I are going to open, today.” Subbu said as he strapped all the guards to his body, while sitting in one of the primary classes, which they used as their dressing room. 

Hearing those words, Srinu scowled at him, defiantly.

“What?” Subbu demanded. 

“You didn’t let me bowl, even for a single over!” Srinu said grudgingly. Subbu laughed hesitantly and looked at Kiran for help. 

“That’s because we don’t want your crappy bowling.” Kiran dropped the obvious fact. Tears welled up in Srinu’s eyes, as soon as he heard those words. Feeling completely dejected, he slumped down on a bench, near him. 

“That was a little rude, don’t you think?” Subbu whispered, awkwardly, to Kiran. 

“You won’t say that when you see him bowl.” 

 “Is he that bad?” 

“Don’t ask.” Kiran said with a scoff... 

“Alright, alright. I’ll guarantee that, you will get to bowl in next match.” Subbu assured Srinu as he tried to convince him to open the innings with him... 

“Hey, where is sleeping pills?” Siddharth, Srinu’s classmate, inquired one of his friends, while watching 2 batsmen take their positions on the pitch. 

“Huh? Who?” 

“You know that guy in our class who sleeps in every period. I heard that he is going to play today.” 

“Must be sleeping somewhere” Siddu’s other friend said with a snort. Suddenly the window, behind them, shattered and collapsed to the floor as a cricket ball broke past it, into the classroom, in front of which Siddu and a few others were standing. Before Siddu and his friends could grasp what had happened, every student present in the corridors of the school building, roared on top of their voices. Startled by the sudden uproar, Siddu looked towards the ground. There, in the middle of the ground, he saw the umpire signaling the ball for a six by raising both his hands up in the air. He then saw a short figure, punching gloves with Subramanyam, the captain of their school’s cricket team. Siddu immediately checked the scoreboard, to find out the name of the short batsman at the crease.

“You’ve gotta be kidding. That’s Sleeping pills?!” Siddu cried out as he read Srinu’s name, on the scoreboard.

As Siddu watched the match with dazed expression, Srinu walked back to strike position and took his stance and waited for the next ball, with absolute style. The match seemed to progress at a fast pace whenever Srinu was on the crease. The audience were hooked to the match, as the score galloped, right since the 1st over itself. It was tiring and demoralizing for the bowlers to get hammered all around the ground. As the batting style of Srinu was quite unruly and his technique was not from textbook, the bowlers couldn’t find any patterns in his play style. Subbu who was on the other end, was providing a perfect stand for his partner. 6 overs had passed, and the score was 50-0. Srinu’s score was 36 in 24 balls and Subbu’s score was 09 runs in 12 balls. The DPS bowlers were growing impatient, unable to find any breakthrough. 

“Looks like you have got an interesting set of players this year.” Gopal thought as he watched Karthik toss the ball to Eshwar, his go to bowler for that day. “Too bad that you’re in no position to guide them.” He thought as he looked at Amir, dozing off near the security room. 

“Be careful. This guy is quick.” Subbu warned Srinu, looking at a player of average height, standing ready at the start of his run-up... 

The ball bulleted through the 5th stump line, on the offside, and landed in the keeper’s gloves, as Srinu watched it after letting it go. The quick pace of the ball took Srinu by surprise. As the Keeper threw the ball to one of his teammates, Srinu looked at Eshwar with a hint of envy in his eyes.

The next ball was again a full-length delivery, in line with the 5th stump on the offside. Srinu stepped forward and across, towards the ball and swung his bat, in an attempt to drive the ball towards the covers. The ball flew past him, almost taking an edge from the bat, and landed in Keeper’s gloves. Every DPS player present on the field, cried out at Srinu’s close shave. 

The next ball was again bowled at a Full length, but this time just a little bit wide of the 5th stump. Feeling little impatient Srinu swung his bat towards the covers, while trying to reach out for the ball. 

Again, missing the bat by an inch, the ball thumped into the keeper’s gloves. The fielders again cried out in disappointment. 

Eshwar stood ready at the starting position of his runup, waiting for Srinu to stand ready at the crease. After Srinu took the batting stance and stood ready, Eshwar started his sprint towards the popping crease. Just as he reached a few steps away from the crease, Eshwar leapt into air using his left foot, as he loaded the bowling arm near its shoulder. He then swung his bowling arm circularly behind and then over him, as he took the delivery stride and planted his left foot on the crease, after landing on his right. He then released the ball from a similar position as before, while adding a side spin to it. 

After leaving Eshwar’s hand, the ball moved ahead with a slower pace.

After pitching again in a fuller length area and in line with 5th stump, the ball moved ahead while slightly deviating from its line. 

After readjusting himself to the pace of the ball, Srinu tried to drive the ball without noticing the line variation of the delivery. As he completed his follow through, he heard the metal, behind him, get clanged. He immediately turned and found the stumps, laying flat on ground.

Regarding the delivery with a casual look, Gopal slowly raised his finger up in the air.

“Oh! What a delivery! He has cleaned him up with a slow off cutter, after luring him out with outside off balls!” Mohammed cried. 

Realizing that the ball got played onto the stumps, Srinu walked off the pitch, feeling frustrated. 

“Dude! who is that guy?” Parth asked as Srinu entered the classroom. “To be able to dismiss a strong hitter like you, that bowler must be really skilled.” 

“He is okay, I guess. Although his bowling is no match for mine.” Srinu said, getting a bit green eyed. “I can bowl at a greater pace than him.”

 “Yeah, True. But rather at someone’s nuts, than at the stumps.” Kiran quipped. 

Parth stifled his chuckle, as Srinu scowled at Kiran... 

The next 2 batsmen, Sameer and Parth got dismissed in a quick succession, by 2 quick paced yorkers from Eshwar. 

“UNBELIEVABLE, He has pulled off a hattrick, right in his first over.” 

Sensing the danger in trying to score runs, desperately, Subbu advised the new batsman to play carefully. 

Karthik gave the next 2 overs, to 2 different bowlers and saved Eshwar for the last over.  By the end of the 9th over, the score was 68-3. Subbu and his partner, ‘Venkat’ had managed to stack 18 runs on the board, with relentless singles and a pair of opportunistic boundaries. NPS was only 13 runs away from their victory.

The ball was handed over to Eshwar, for bowling the last over of the match. 

“It’s the last and most crucial over of this match and it’s Venkat on strike.” Mohammed’s voice boomed. 

As Eshwar set his field for the final over, Venkat stood at the crease , nervously observing the change in the field. 

Eshwar then stood ready at the starting position of his runup. He started his sprint towards the popping crease, as Venkat tapped his bat. The first ball of the final over was a toe crushing yorker in line with the middle stump. Venkat immediately brought his bat down and jammed its toe on the ground. After getting struck by the full face of the bat, the ball stood still on the ground, right in front of Venkat, after a couple of bounces. 

“Dot ball. 13 needed from 5. They can’t afford dot balls, at this point of the game.” Mohammed said. 

The next ball was again a yorker, in the same line. Venkat again blocked the ball with a grounded defense and immediately ran across the pitch, calling out Subbu for a run. 

“NO!” Subbu yelled, noticing that the ball was lying very close to the stumps. Not paying any attention to his captain’s yell, Venkat ran halfway across the pitch. As his teammate was just a few steps away from the non-striker’s end, Subbu helplessly left the crease and started running towards striker’s end. But by the time he had ran halfway across the pitch, Eshwar had already kicked the ball onto the stumps. 

As he saw the stumps get knocked down on the ground, Subbu abandoned his sprint towards the crease and weakly swung his bat in the air, in disappointment. 

“Oh! That was a reckless call for a run, by Venkat. He simply threw away his partner’s wicket .” 

Feeling responsible for his misjudgment, Venkat regrettingly saw his captain walk off the pitch. 

By the end of the final over, the score was 68-5. To the host’s disappointment, Eshwar had held their team run-less throughout the over and had also managed to take a wicket at the before last ball of the match.... 

“We were so close.” Srinu said, as all the players of NPS lined up near the center of the ground, to exchange  formal handshakes with their opponents. 

“What does it matter?” Subbu sighed, standing beside Srinu. “This is not even their first string team.” 

“What?!” Srinu asked, little surprised, as he looked at the opponent team.

“Yeah. Only the captain and that fast bowler, who took your wicket, are the only first string players on the team.” Kiran said… 

“Good game.” The DPS players said to the NPS players, as they exchanged handshakes with each one of them.

Karthik held his hand out for a formal handshake with Srinu. After looking at the opponent captain for a few seconds, with dissatisfaction, Srinu reached out and shook Karthik’s hand.

“Next time” Srinu said, as Karthik was about to move past him. “We would like to play against your first string team.” 

After casually regarding the new comer for a few moments, Karthik let out a stifled chuckle. 

“Sorry man, our first-string team plays only against strong opponents.” He said. 

“You mean we’re not strong enough to face your first-string team?” Subbu asked. 

“Umm.. Yeah, I guess.” Karthik admitted. 

“Unbelievable. Don’t forget that we almost had you in this game.” Subbu stepped up for his team. 

“Almost.” Karthik noted. 

“We’ve improved a lot since before, at this rate, we might even surpass your first-string team, in the near future.” Subbu said. 

“Can’t wait for that to happen.” Karthik mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

“That’s so rude of you Karthik.” Gopal said, Trying to save his student from an angry Subbu. “You should apologize.” 

“Oh, I meant no disrespect, Sir. All I said was the truth. These guys are not worthy of our time.” Karthik said bluntly. 

At this even Srinu felt pissed off. He was invigorated at the way Karthik was putting them down. 

“Alright guys, that’s enough.” Eshwar said, standing nearby, trying to resolve the situation. “Tell you what? The SGFI’s are coming up.” He said looking at the NPS captain. “Why don’t you guys take part in that and make it to the district level? You do that. I assure you Karthik won’t have any problem, then. Right, Karthik?” 

“You think they can reach the district level?” Karthik asked, looking at Eshwar. 

“Oh, We will. You just watch.” Srinu said, assertively, before anyone else could say something. 

 “How do you expect to make it to the district level of a tournament, with such a scattered team?” Karthik asked, looking at the NPS players. 

“You don’t have to worry about that, the only thing you have to worry about is not to lose in the qualifiers.” Subbu said. With a sneer on his face.

 “And be ready for us. Cuz’ we’re gonna beat you.” Srinu added, his eyes looking at Karthik, unwavering. 

Karthik scoffed in disbelief at the declaration and then looked at Subbu, feeling a little impressed at his and his teammate’s determination. 

“Alright then! Make it to the districts and show me your true worth.” Karthik said holding his hand out for Subbu to shake it. Subbu then exchanged a handshake of commitment with his DPS counterpart... 

“Salam Sir.” The watchman said to the owner of the car, which had just entered the apartments premises. The blue color Maruti 800 drove past the security guard and parked itself in an empty spot in the parking cellar. 

As the guard closed the gates, A plump, short person stepped out of the Maruti car, while checking his phone with his right hand. He then slammed the door shut, with his other hand, in frustration. “Damn you Shyam!” He cursed his brother as he looked away from the phone.

The device suddenly started ringing as he started walking out of the parking area. ‘Shyam (the donkey)’ the display read. 

 “Hey there Ramu.” A voice said as Ram picked up the call. “Checked out the results of the meet?” The voice asked with a hint of glee in it. 

“Stop wasting my time, you doofus.” Ram said through his gritted teeth. “What do you want?” 

“Why do you sound so angry, Ramu?” The voice asked mockingly. “I just wanted to congratulate you on your grand loss.” Saying so, the person on the other side of that call, giggled. 

At that, Ram abruptly cut the call and stormed off towards the elevator. “Just you wait, Shyam. Someday I’m going to wipe that smirk off your face.” He thought as he slammed the elevator door shut and pressed the 3rd floor button…..