It was 5th July 2015, the day of the house team selection. Ali walked out over to the nets after five classes and a lab period with mixing of two liquids which led to Mohit and Dalal suffering acid burns on their hands, where the selection would take place. Ali saw a huge line of people from grades 9 to 12, along with a few from the 8th and 7th grade. He was calm after seeing the other players, who were in the overall range of 40 to 45, except for Anirudh and 2 others at 46, Samuel at 48 and Manish at 49.
Coach Shastri called all the students to the center of the field, "All of you, welcome to the green house selection camp. I don't care who your father is, what your mom does at the parents association, or which relative of yours works at the government board. Don't tell me any of that as you won't get any brownie points for all such things. What I do care about is how well you bat, how well you bowl, your fielding skills and how you conduct yourselves on the field. Also, before you stupidly come to me privately with your chump change, I only care for the school team and the biryani from an Indian restaurant far in the north. Of course, take that last part as a joke, haha."
No one laughed along with him, knowing that they would be scrutinized more. However, a person came out of a car screaming, "Max, I got the biryani as you asked!" Everyone looked at Max with pity. A few even snickered. "Didn't I tell you it was a joke?! GET OUT OF MY PITCH!" roared Shastri. Max silently walked away, while slowly packing his kit and leaving the pitch. His dad was about to verbally fight with Shastri but was stopped by his son.
The selection began. Ali waited till his turn came, and walked over to the first area, the nets, where his batting would be tested. Shastri asked him to stand in front of the wicket and told a few words to the net bowler, a lanky 19 year old, who merely came to curry favor with the coach. Shastri took up his clipboard and pen and then told Ali to start.
The first ball was a straight and quick, good length ball, which Ali drove straight back to the bowler, who took it from the ground. Shastri then told Ali to loft the next ball, which Ali calmly did, despite it being a Yorker. Ball after ball went on like this, where Ali perfectly replicated what the dumbfounded Shastri wanted. However, it wasn't the same when it came to the bowling. Ali was able to bowl well for the first 5 to 6 balls but the quality immediately dipped after that. Shastri wrote a few words on his clipboard, then asked, what position would you like to play at in the batting order? Ali decided, considering his skills and abilities, and then told him, "No. 3. I feel my technique would be good over there." Shastri then told, "My, my. Aren't you an ambitious one. Very well, I shall see what I can do."
One week later…
Ali ran to the announcement board along with Anirudh in pursuit. They went to the board, only to see a crowd of older people blocking the board. They then pushed through the bodies until they found the green house team list.
GREEN HOUSE TEAM LIST (STARTING XI)
Openers:
Samuel Varghese
Manish Shetty (Captain)
Middle Order:
Ali Zaidi (Part time spin)
Mohit R Tiwary
Imran Sadique (Part time quick)
Rishit S
Bowlers:
Anirudh Malhotra (Pace)
Zoravar Khan (Pace)
Suraj Shetty (Pace)
Vasudev Kant (Spin)
Aditya Shetty (Spin)
Ali was selected. Selected. Actually selected. In his original life he failed miserably at the selection due to nervousness and hence had to watch from the stands. Ashwandeep National School was well known for its high quality school cricket team. To see the talents in action, a few Ranji scouts and Karnataka Premier League scouts would even come for the final. Granted, only two people ever got directly fast tracked from the school team to the State U19 from the school team, but it wouldn't hurt to be known by these scouts early on.
However, there was a big debate going on between the people in the red house as the vice principal's son, Siddarth Reddy had somehow got into the red house team. The red house had at least 3 people who played for the school team, and after shifts of 5 people from the yellow house to the red house, they suddenly had 6 people from the school team. This was very weird as there were many people in the red house who were close to the school team but couldn't get in. But they were the same level. "This reeks of Sahwit's involvement. After screwing the school's funds over, now he wants to screw the school cricket team too?" Thought Ali.
"He is the vice principal's son, of course he will get special treatment! We should ask the coach! Was his impassioned speech a bunch of bullshit?!" Screamed one student. "Wasn't he two weeks ago, bowled by some kid from the 5th grade?" Asked another. Then, as if he was summoned, a tall, lanky boy from the 10th grade, hair lazily swished back, walked over to the scuffle. "What are we talking about, my good friends?"
Within seconds, the same kid who wanted to fight with the coach started congratulating him. The other kid who was laughing at his lack of actual skill suddenly started complimenting his non existent skill in the game. Many others started sucking up to him, all ready to earn his favor. Ali felt like vomiting. Just like his original life, Siddarth asked his dad to fix the tournament and give him the best possible team in the school. This time however, Sahwit had increased the intensity of fixing, making Ali think he had changed something. Was it the ball he smashed into Karan's office? Was it the way he eyed Sahwit? Either way, he decided he would humiliate this so called "perfect" kid, who anyways would suffer in the future due to his father's lack of morals.
Ali then looked at the fixture list, and saw both the matchups.
Matches:
Green House vs Blue House
Red House vs Yellow House
Rules: Winner goes to the final
TO BE CONTINUED