The Big Match I Story by Kabir, 17, Lucknow

The Big Match

A bright day, a verdant field, fresh grounds, a powerful foe, and the aura of a championship game. What else can you ask for in a cricket match! It was the final of the inter-house cricket tournament. The Yellow House had reached the final, thrashing the Blue House in the semi-final by their batting skills, tough bowling and excellent fielding. The Green House did the same against the Red House. The fierce rivalry between the two houses was known in the school.

Shockingly the Yellow House had not won a single match in the last twenty years against the Green House. This was the best day to defeat the Green House, as it was the birthday of the team captain, Karthik and it was his last day in the school. He was the best cricketer in the school. He was a bowling-all rounder. His spinning skills baffled the batsmen and his unorthodox but amazing batting skills scared the bowlers. However, his biggest strength was his fielding. His direct hits and his fast movement left the opposition awe-struck. Unfortunately most of the time, his teammates failed to meet his expectations against the Green House. So, it was the best opportunity for the Yellow House to defeat the Green House.

The best cricketer after Karthik was Kaushik, who was the captain of the Green House. He was a batting-all rounder. His part-time bowling was better than some of the main bowlers in the house and his classic batting style rarely gave a chance to the bowlers to dismiss him. He was known as the ‘Direct Hit-Man’ in the school, as he had the most number of direct hits in the school. Hence, the fierce rivalry….

The pitch was green, meaning that batting first would have helped the house to set a good target. However, batting second would not have been ideal as the ball would come at uneven speed and uneven bounce. The toss happened and the Yellow House lost the toss and they bowled first. The openers from their side were Kumar and Nishant. The first bowler was Ajay, the fast bowler who knew how to swing the ball in different ways. They scored fourteen runs in the first over against him by hitting a maximum and a pair of boundaries. The second over was bowled by Sachin who was an expert of the Leg-Cutter. However, he failed to do any good to the team as well. In the first four overs, Nishant and Kumar had scored fifty runs.

Karthik noticed that most of the runs had come from the fastest balls of the match till then. He gave the ball to Prashant, who was a part-time left arm spinner. He told Prashant not to bowl at a high speed and to spin the ball as much as possible. Kumar was on strike. The first three balls were dot balls which did spin away from Kumar. Karthik had also told him to see when Kumar was going to step out. Kumar was frustrated and both Prashant and Karthik saw it. Karthik gave him the indication to bowl straight. Kumar stepped out, he missed the ball completely and the ball hit the stumps. The first wicket was down. The over was a maiden over.

Next came Aryan, who was an expert playing the balls going away from him. Prashant Arif, who was a medium-fast bowler bowled the next three overs, giving just ten runs. It was the third ball of the ninth over when Aryan was on the strike. Prashant tried to give the flight to the ball, but the ball slipped from his hands and the ball came to Aryan as a full-toss. Aryan hit the ball flat but hard towards the long-on fielder, where Ajay was there. He jumped high in the air and caught the ball from one hand. The crowd went wild and Aryan was sent walking back to the pavilion. Next came the wicketkeeper-batsman Rakesh. After the ninth over, Karthik came to bowl the tenth over. Karthik had bowled four dot balls to Nishant, out of which all of the balls were leg spin. He knew Nishant’s mindset. He bowled a Googly to him. The ball struck his pad in front of the stumps. He got out due to L.B.W.

Next came the captain of the Green house, Kaushik. The Team’s score at ten overs was sixty-six for the loss of three wickets. When they thought that everything was going according to the plan, Kaushik changed the game by scoring thirty-nine runs with Rakesh from the next four overs. Even though Karthik gave just eight runs of the two overs he bowled, Prashant and Ajay gave thirteen and eighteen runs respectively of each over. Karthik had understood that his regular plan would not work. He had to do something different, so he brought Arif. The thing about Arif which made him different from others was that he bowled straight, but always on the off-side. Rakesh had the strike, Karthik told Arif to bowl a straight and fast ball on the leg-stump. Arif bowled a straight yorker on the leg-stump. Rakesh was startled, he edged the ball slightly and the ball hit the stumps. Only four runs came from the over.

In the next three overs, three wickets fell but twenty-four runs still came, out of which twenty runs were scored by Kaushik. Karthik decided to bowl the over, as he knew that Kaushik had to be stopped. He tried to remember what ball he had bowled the least in his career. And then, he remembered. He bowled the top-spinner to him. The ball spinned just a bit and with the extra bounce, the ball hit the top of the off-stump. Yes, Kaushik was bowled. He took the next two wickets in his next two balls, getting a hat-trick.

The Green House had scored one hundred and twenty nine runs of eighteen overs and three balls. The target was not big,the team was performing well but the pitch was the challenge. The openers from the Yellow House were Aarav and Samar, who were the experts of playing swinging balls. Sahil was the best bowler of the Green House and he was bowling the first over. The first over was an average over for both the teams. However, the next over was expensive for the opposition as they gave away ten runs.

Kaushik realized that the pitch was dry and it would not do any good to fast bowlers. He brought Ankush and told him to bowl. He was an off-spinner and he knew a lot of variations of off-spin. On the first ball, Samar did become the victim of Ankush’s Doosra. He stepped out to play the Straight Drive, but he edged the ball and Nishant, who was at the slip position, caught the ball. He bowled a normal ball to Rahul, who had come in the place of Samar. He got a single off the ball. Karthik wondered why Ankush bowled an ordinary ball to Rahul. On the next ball Aarav also got dismissed. Then came Arnav, to bat.

 Karthik understood the reason after seeing Arnav. He understood that Ankush was planning to dismiss Arnav and Rahul as then except Karthik only the batsmen would have been left who bat with their left hand. On the last ball of the over, Rahul got bowled. Karthik decided to bat early as he knew that an off-spinner will have more difficulty bowling to a right-hand batsman. He told Arnav not to get dismissed and to play grounded strokes. The next three overs were good for Karthik and the team, as they scored twenty runs from the respective overs. Seeing Ankush failing to both of the batsmen, Kaushik understood the strategy of Karthik. Then he brought Naman to bowl his spell. Naman was the left arm spinner who knew both how to spin the ball and how to bowl fast skidding balls.

On the first ball of the over, Naman bowled a spinning ball to Arnav. He got beaten from the spin of the ball. The over was a maiden over. He came to bowl the next over and only three runs came of the over. Only nine runs came from the next four overs. The Yellow House had scored only fifty runs of twelve overs. Out of the remaining eight overs, they had to score eighty runs and the required run rate from seven runs per over had come to ten runs per over. Karthik told Arnav to give him as much strike as possible. But Kaushik was prepared for that and he brought Sahil to bowl. He bowled a fast Yorker at the off-stump to Arnav. Whack! Arnav got bowled and the crowd went silent.

Next came Arif whose performance was not much impressive against fast bowlers. Karthik told him to take a single and give him the strike, and so he did. In the remaining four balls, Karthik smashed eighteen runs, twelve of which came from fours and the remaining runs came from a maximum. In the next over, Karthik scored twelve runs of the five balls he played in the next over and he completed his half-century of forty-four balls. Due to his steady knock, only forty-nine runs were required of the remaining six overs.

Kaushik wondered what he should do. He remembered that Karthik did not have the strike. He told Ankush to bowl in such a manner that Karthik does not get the strike. Arif tried his best to take a single, but he failed to do so. It was a maiden over. Now Karthik had the strike and Kaushik sent Naman to bowl, telling him to bowl the balls skidding towards him. But Karthik knew what was coming towards him. He smashed twenty six runs from the over, hitting five boundaries and one maximum. The crowd was booing the Green House and Kaushik was feeling angry. But suddenly he saw that Arif was on strike again. He came to bowl his last over, planning to get as many wickets as possible of the over. He bowled a slow and straight ball to Arif. Arif stepped out, the ball went past him and it struck the stumps. Arif was out. Including Arif, Kaushik dismissed four batsmen without giving even a single run. Now, the fans of Kaushik were booing Karthik, whereas the fans of Karthik were silent in shock. Two overs went and only three runs came from the overs, neither of which were scored by Karthik.

In the last over the Yellow House required twenty runs with two wickets left and Karthik did not have the strike. He told Ajay to hit the ball towards the long-on fielder high in the air. Even though Ajay would have been out, Karthik would have got the strike. Ajay did so and he was caught. The Yellow House fans started leaving the stadium as they thought that Yellow House would lose the match. But the fans who left the match would have surely regretted their decision.

Twenty runs were required from five balls and now, Karthik had the strike. He hit the ball for a maximum and the second for a double. Kaushik told Sahil to bowl a bouncer. Sahil understood what to do. He bowled a bouncer, which hit Karthik’s helmet. Karthik was feeling dizzy. The next ball was a dot ball as Karthik was not able to hit the ball, due to his dizziness. He asked the umpire to stop the play for two minutes. The umpire allowed it. He saw his fans and thought about the feelings of the fans. He asked himself, “Can I end my last school game like this?” Suddenly a wave of energy ran inside him and he was back on the crease, more determined.

Sahil bowled a bouncer to him again, but this time Karthik was ready. He moved away from the ball and he smashed the ball in the stands towards the third man. Six runs were required of the last ball. The fans were praying for their respective sides to win, the field was set and then the umpire gave the indication to Sahil. 

What happens ? … wait for part 2..

By Kabir Harish Nair

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