Author Note:
This will be the first actual arc of matches. This also is my first ever author note. Anyways I can't wait for all of you to read all the chapters of the first arc of this novel, the Inter House tournament arc!
Also do tell me in the comments if you are enjoying the novel so far!
————————————————————————————————————
Two weeks after the selection results were revealed, it was the Ashwandeep sports day. No one was that interested in any of the other events other than the cricket event and the cooking event, which only Ahmed was actually interested in.
"System, analyze my next match."
[Green House vs Blue House | Ashwandeep Four Houses Tournament]
Key Players:
Shrivastav Shan (C)
A very shrewd captain, known to be highly defensive in field placement.
Plays at #3, can anchor the innings. Best to collect his wicket as soon as possible.
Zayed Khan
Opens the innings, is able to hit unorthodox shots and is dangerous against bouncers and fast balls.
Chinnar Rai
Spin bowler who mainly takes control of the run rate in the middle overs.
Win Chance:
Blue House: 66%
Green House: 34%
[Best Plan of Action: Choose to Bat first, switch opener to Ali Zaidi so that Samuel Varghese can hit Chinnar Rai's Spin.]
"Well I guess one of the two can be done. I don't want to cause the coach to doubt me by opening instead, so I guess I should advise Manish to bat first to prevent Shrivastav from squeezing us at the middle overs. But that win chance is a bit painful to see. Granted, if I and the team can do well here, this match is ours." Thought Ali.
"Hello and welcome to the Ashwandeep sports day's most awaited event, the Ashwandeep school cricket tournament! I am Ashwin, the commentator from the student body and today, we will be seeing the first match of the 2015 Ashwandeep four house cricket tournament, which will not only determine the captaincy of the school cricket team for this year's zonal inter school tournament, but also the members of the school team! The match is between Blue house, the second strongest team of the houses, captained by Shrivastav, last year's school captain, and Green House, captained by Manish, last year's opening batsman of the school team!"
As Ashwin went on about the lineups of both sides and their advantages, Ali went up to Manish and told him his plan. Manish then told, "It's a good plan, but I hope we win the toss"
Both teams walked out to the ground, ready to face each other. Ali heard a few taunts from the Blue house players, saying that they would break Bangalore's record of 263 and they would go 49 runs all out. However, due to Ali's "The King" ability, it had nearly no effect. Ali then told them, "Watch us make you lose by 100 runs"
Manish and Shrivastav stood in opposite sides, ready to call the toss. Shrivastav told, "Don't make this too easy for me. I want to send Siddarth packing. But.. if you do win, which you won't, shut Siddarth up." Manish laughed, before continuing with, "We won't just beat you or Siddarth, we will win the whole tournament!" Coach Shastri asked Manish to call the toss, in which he chose tails. However, the coin landed on the heads side, to which Shrivastav calmly said, "We choose to bat first."
Manish came to Ali disappointed, "We lost the toss, your plan can't happen. I'll send Anirudh to pressure them, we should be able to get a wicket in the powerplay."
The openers, Nirmal and Zayed, stood at each of the ends of the pitch, with a confident aura, ready to calmly hit six after six. Anirudh, however was slightly nervous, but had practiced his fast bowling for weeks on end,increasing his bowling from 46 to 49. Manish had put his two boundary line fielders, Ali and Rishit at deep extra cover and deep point in order to trap Nirmal into hitting the ball to those regions, as he was a left handed batsman who only was able to loft to those regions.
Over 1, Anirudh bowled a good length straight ball which went to Nirmal's off side. He simply defended it and ran a single. In came Zayed, ready to defend until the end of the first over. Zayed done an On drive forward, taking another single. This continued until the end of Anirudh's over, giving the Blue House a paltry 5 runs. But those 5 runs were just to start the game. [Nirmal 2* (3) Zayed 3* (3) 5/0]
Over 2, Suraj began bowling the second over, bowling an inswinger to Zayed, but Zayed stood calmly, and hit a beautiful sweep shot, sending the ball for a six. Vasudev screamed at Suraj from behind, "Don't cost us the game you idiot!" Suraj bowled his second ball, and Zayed again drove it towards the covers, sending it for a four. Ali was also annoyed now, and asked Suraj to not simply cause a leak of runs. Suraj then threw a slower ball but Zayed saw it and flicked it away, sending it sailing into the tent set up for the spectators. Another six. Vasudev and Suraj started fighting, each ready to punch the other. Manish broke up the fight by telling them to fight after the match. Manish then told Suraj a few words, and Suraj threw a Yorker, which Zayed defended and took a single. Nirmal then came back to the crease, and Suraj dropped a full toss, which Nirmal tried to hit for another six, but mistimed. The ball flew towards Manish at mid on, leading to the loss of Nirmal's wicket. Suraj jumped in joy, but Vasudev reminded him of his initial leaking of runs, cutting his celebration short. Shrivastav then came to the pitch. Blue House's best batting duo had assembled, leading to cheers from the other Blue House students. Suraj's next ball was simply defended for a dot. [Shrivastav 0* (1) Zayed 20* (7) 22/1]
The 3rd over and 4th over were Zayed and Shrivastav's playground. They calmly rotated strike against Imran and Suraj's overs, with Shrivastav acting as an anchor, and Zayed hitting multiple boundaries. [Shrivastav 10*(7) Zayed 43*(15) 53/1]
Manish was worried, seeing how the two of them were completely in control, hitting every alternate ball for a boundary. "You have to get through me before getting the glory of roasting that idiot!" Screamed Shrivastav. Manish decided to get Ali to bowl the 5th over, it wasn't a good idea but he had no ideas left. Manish went to Ali and said, "Can you bowl the next over? I have no ideas left. Just do something." Ali anyways was planning to ask Manish to let him to bowl the 5th over as the system had told him to go in and bowl, after analyzing Zayed's stance and realizing he was weak to spin.
Ali walked in, activating his bowling related skills. Zayed stood opposite to him at the crease, ready to calmly hit this new bowler for more boundaries. He wasn't knowing however, his overconfidence would lead to his wicket.
The field was changed, in order to facilitate Ali's wicket taking.
Ball 1, Ali ran forward, throwing a doorsa ball, that zipped away from Zayed's bat, and was dropped from Mohit's hand, leading to a dropped catch.
[Shrivastav 10*(7) Zayed 43*(16) 53/1]
Ball 2, Ali then threw a top spinner, that zipped downwards. Zayed defended the ball, and it rolled away. However due to Suraj's misfield, Zayed was able to get 3 runs.
[Shrivastav 10*(7) Zayed 46*(17) 53/1]
Ball 3, Ali threw a leg spinner, which was quickly collected by Manish, and Shrivastav took a single.
[Shrivastav 11*(8) Zayed 46*(17) 54/1]
Ball 4, Zayed got ready to face the ball,and Ali threw a faster leg spinner, which Zayed in a overconfident state, tried to send it for a four, but it flew upwards, and was easily caught by Manish.
HOWZZAT! Ashwin screamed at the top of his lungs into the microphone and everyone came to celebrate with Ali. Ali immediately showed a thumbs down sign, as his celebration. Green House members screamed in joy, seeing a wicket finally fall after overs of boundaries. The person with a system was surprised, as he thought the blue team would win with Zayed and Shrivastav scoring a century and half century respectively according to what his memories told him, while in reality Zayed was leaving the pitch.
"Not bad for a 9th grader." Said Shrivastav.
TO BE CONTINUED