The Lovely Game...!:
Once upon a time n blah blah blah...!!
Noways! That's not how i am gonna start this. The story starts with 'Rivalry'. There were two teams. Cricket teams. The world knew them. Their matches were watched and betted upon, All over the world. It was like the Indo-Pak matches. Only Difference was that these were not Indo-Pak, It was KaSh! Yes they were the very own...'Karan's warriors' and 'Shilpa's Angel Rockers'. Their matches were popularly called as ''Clash of the KaSh!''
Shilpa and Karan had been together since college days. But they never really got along that well, EVER. Then they took 'Cricket' as their career and ended up being Rivals in it. After hardly few of the matches, their teams got famous. And now was the time for the BIG match. It was the world cup going on. Shilpa's team hadn't lost a single match due to her awesome captaincy and they had qualified for the final. Now was the time for the match between karan's team and another team as a decider for who's gona play against Shilpa.
As Karan was walking through the corridor to get to the field,he sees shilpa.
Ka: Tum? Tum yahan kyun ai ho?
Sh: Tumhe luck wish karne ai hoon!
Ka: Thanks but i dun need it!
Sh: Arey thanks kyun bol rahe ho? pehle wish to karne do.
Ka: Mujhe pata hai tum kis intention se mujhe wish karogi isliye i dun
need it.
Sh: Nops! ur wrong! Iss baar main dil se chahti hoon ke tum jeeto!
Ka: Acha?
Sh: Haan..kyunki challengers to sirf naam ke challengers hain. They're
easy to take. I want u! I want sum fight.sum REAL action tomorrow!
Ka: Oh u'll get it alright!
Sh: I'll trust you on that!
Ka: (chuckles) c ya! (walks away)
Sh: (calls out behind him) Good luck!
And sure enough! The warriors take down the challengers easily. Huge
cheers and and shouts could be heard from the crowd. In the conclusion
ceremony, Karan is questioned.
Ravi: Karan you seemed to have an easy victory here...what dya hav to say
for it?
Ka: I dun relle hav much to say about THIS..but i assure u i'd hav alot to talk about n cheer for TOMORROW!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
''So, here was karan saying that he doesn't care much about today's victory. And ofcourse,his belief, His confidence on his team could be seen in his face. All everybody cares about now, is the BIG match of the world cup tomorrow. The most waited match of the ICC cricket world cup. Its the Clash of the KaSh again. This victory was very much expected but TOMORROW, everything is going to be unbelievably curious. let's just wait for it to come. This is Ravi shastri ending the ceremony. Thanks 4 being wid us and have a good day.''
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Day:
Aur aaj hai wo din jiska sabko badi hi besabhri se intezaar tha.Kal ke semi-final mein 'warriors' ne 'chalengers' ko badi hi aasaani se hara kar finals mein apni jaga bana li aur isi ke saath Bharat ke saath saath aadhi se zada dunya ki expectations ke mutaabiq aaj hai 'Clash of the KaSh! Bade bade matches to world cups mein hote hi rehte hain lekin aisi excitement logon mein zara kam hi dekhne milti hai. Isi ke saath hum baat karte hain Shilpa ki team ke Rahul garewal se. To Rahul bataye ye jo aaj match hone wala hai usmen logon ki to excitement aapne dekhi hi hai..stadium full hone wala hai balke bahar bahar tak log apne kaam kaaj chodkar match dekhne ke liye aane waale hain. To aisi excitement par aapka kya kehna hai?
Ra: Jee han..bilkul! Log to buht hi zada excited hain aur aisi crowd aur
itne saare log mene pehle to kabhi nai dekhe. itne saare logon ka
bharosa..itna pyaar aur itni duaen humare saath hain n I assure them hum unhe niraash nai karenge n we'r gona put up a great competition.
In the locker room,Shilpa talks to her team.
Sh: Guys aaj buht bada din hai. Today's the BIG MATCH! N everybody here
knows wht it means to us. Abhi tak hum logon ne ek bhi match nai haara
hai. Aur specially ye match to humen kisi bhi haal mein jeetna hai. Come
on guys..let's bring the trophy home!
They make up a huddle and say their prayers and then they join hands in
the center and raise them to the sky.
''Let's go Rockers!''
In another locker room. Karan talks to his team.
Ka: Angel rockers iss tornament mein koi bhi match nai haare. Najaane kitne different records break kiye hain unlogon ne. but unka ye 'kabhi na
haarne' ka record to hum break karenge. All of us know ke Shilpa kitni
ghamandi hai. WE HAVE to win this match. Alright?!
And they too huddle n do their prayers then they join hands in the center
and raise them to the sky.
Karan and Shilpa happen to meet in the corridor again. This time Karan
wishes luck to Shilpa.
Ka: (smiles) Good luck!
Sh: You need it more!
Ka: (chuckles) Im just being formal.
Sh: Keep it to urself! Mr.Show off!
Ka: HUH..plz...Ms.Fairytale!
Sh: Huh? Fairytale?
Ka: (Chuckles) Ofcourse...team ka naam bhi to kuch aisa hi rakha hai...''Angel rockers!..how girlish!
Sh: Tumse to better hi hai...''Warriors''..Aisa lagta hai cricket khelne
nai jung ladne aye ho!
Ka: Jung hi to hai...hum har game ko aise hi lete hain!
Sh: Tabhi to haarte ho! Game ko game ki tarah lo..tabhi jeetoge!
Ka: PLZ! Haar jeet ka faisla field mein karte hain!
Sh: (wid full attitude) To phir yahan time waste kyun kar rahe ho?
She turns back and her hair hit his face. He feels the wavy silk of her
lively hair and closes his eyes for a moment. Then he walks after her to
the field.
They wave to the audience before the toss. Karan wins the toss and
chooses to bat. Soon, the match was in full swing. Abhumanyu Modi and
Keerti Mehra are the openers. Rahul bowls.
They make a few runs. Raise the score above 20. But keerti gets out on
24. And Karan takes her place.
Sh: Guys..kuch bhi karke karan ko jaldi out karna hoga. agar wo jam gaya
to match unke haath hojayega!
She let's Rahul bowl. He takes a few steps back and speeds forward.
Swinging his arms once, he aims at the wicket and then shoots the ball
but to his surprise Karan hits a sixer! Huge cheers in the audience as karan made his fantastic entry sixer. Shilpa gets shocked on this. She changes the fielding plans. But the next few overs go with more sixes and some fours from both Abhi and Karan. They keep encouraging each other after almost every ball. In the mid overs Shilpa talks to Rahul.
Sh: Karan to jam gaya yaar.Aate hi itne awesome shots.
Ra: Oye tu to aise bol rahi hai jaise pehli baar uske against khel rahi hai.
Sh: Hmm...ur right yaar. Hum hi jeetenge. (she assures herself) I think
main khud hi bowling karti hoon.
Ra: Ur wish! Ye le! (giving the bowl)
hain. Clash of the KaSh ki ye specialty rahi hai ke kash hamesha ek
doosre ko khud hi fight karna pasand karte hain
And shilpa comes up. Karan stretches himself, ready. He gestures a shot with his bat once. While shilpa walks a few feet away from the pitch then
speeds towards her spot. Setting one foot, balancing her body on it, she swings her arm and throws the ball. The ball hits straight at the wicket.
Huge shouts and cheers in the crowd. She jumps up in the air and appreciates herself. Then she raises a hand as an appeal to the umpire. He gives a 'no ball' sign. Everyone gets shocked coz this was the first time Shilpa ever gave a no ball. Karan had this lobe sided smile as he went to shilpa and mocked.
Ka: Itna gussa?itne gusse mein bowling karogi to aise hi hoga!
Sh: (glaring at him) Shut up!
Karan chuckles and goes back to the crease. Shilpa gets very frustrated
now.
Hell yaar! Sala kabse khada hai out hi nai hota! Ab to main usey tadpa tadpa kar out karungi ainda kabhi cricket nai khelega!
She backs away from the field and then jogges forward in rapid motion. without a pause she swings out her arm and when about to bowl she suddenly bend a nerve in her ankle and falls. Some of the audience stand up at the sudden accident. Unexpected to everyone, Karan becomes the first one to run up to her and check her out. Then he shouts for health manager, although two of them were already jogging upto them. They checked her ankle. One of them gave it a sharp blow. Pain shot in her foot. She involuntarily held karan's hand. It was as if he could feel her pain that he caressed her hair, held her hand n rubbed it once.
Soon, Shilpa was f9 and ready to play.
Ka: Shilpa..i think tumhe rest karna chahiye.
Sh: Noways! Main rest karungi to tumhe kaun out karega?
Ka: (chuckles) Tumhe lagta hai tum mujhe out kar sakti ho?
Sh: Last time bhi to kia tha!
Ka: Wo last time tha!
Sh: (chuckles) Hah! funny! just wait n watch!
Ka: (smiles) U too!
In that one fair moment,they seemed to have become friends.
The game continued. Karan batted and Shilpa bowled, The score n the overs went on. One time when Shilpa was about to bowl karan raised his hand as a ''STOP! I'm not ready'' sign and she stopped. He started laughing on that. And the other time shilpa jogged towards the pitch with the ball, Karan positioned himself to prepare a sixer, Shilpa gestured to throw the ball but dint. while karan swung his bat and shilpa started laughing. The game had turned from fight to fun. As if they were not relle playing the world cup final but playing normal cricket in the school playground. The warriors made a 356/50 in their complete innings. Shilpa couldn't get karan out. That's what karan was more proud about.
Now The rockers' innings started.The opening batsmen were Atul and sunaina. They stayed for the first 4 overs but then Atul got out because he was looking at sunaina while she removed her helmet and set her hair on the other side of the crease. Everyone laughed except Shilpa's team n karan hit his head with his palm as if it was HIS team. After some more of the game Shilpa comes on the crease in the mid overs. Then karan took the bowling. He had THIS huge smile on his face and shilpa gave him a lobe-sided crooky smile. Karan was a left handed bowler and Shilpa, a right hand batsman which made his bowling easy for her to handle. He probably dint notice that. This was one reason she could always score more in his bowling than anyone else. But one thing dangerous about his bowling was that he would always aim straight for the wicket n was a fast bowler + spinner. The balls that he threw were like bullets from a gun. A person could handle them only if they knew some certain strategy. And shilpa knew that strategy. With this karan sped towards the pitch and aiming at the wicket he spun the ball towards shilpa. She couldn't judge the ball n hence, couldn't play it. Luckily, it went right by the wicket and missed the wicket keeper's hands. Shilpa sighed and then gestured to
karan as ''What was this??"
Karan chuckled. He was given the ball and he went back away from the pitch. In his next ball shilpa did right judgement and hit a six. 8.2 miles went the ball. Huge cheers in the audience. Karan clapped his hand and gestured to her as ''nice one''.
The game suddenly went more difficult for the rockers. Karan gave the bowling to Sid. plus, he also change the fielding to a tighter one as if with this six he had become insecure. It shocked shilpa. She started to feel that all this friendship n all during the game was just a way to distract her from the game and make her feel lighter. It was all actually, Karan's trick to win. Seeing her getting close to defeat she became more concious of things. Soon, she noticed that the fielding kept changing and becoming tighter according to her shots. She somehow, felt hurt about what happened in the game. But for now she just wanted to concentrate on the game. She had to win. She'd been working so hard to win this world cup n now she couldn't just lose it bcoz of some cruddy emotions nonsense. She noticed her eyes filling up. She never wanted to be used by someone like this. She, soon, came out of her thoughts and noticed the bowler about to bowl. Luckily, She swung the bat on time before the ball could come and hit her wicket. And by chance, it was a sixer. She dint move, dint rejoice. Just kept staring in the direction of the ball in disbelief. Then she snapped out of it n noticed that 2 fielders were now standing in the directions where she hit the ball. She got filled with anger and frustration. Now this game was equally a war 4 her as it was 4 karan, like he'd mentioned it. In the rest of the game, before drinks break, Everyone could notice how much she had bucked up.
In drinks break, Karan got a drink for himself and offered one to shilpa. She gave him a furious look. Instead of asking anything or backing off, he just took her hand and stubbornly handed the can of drink to her.
Ka: Pee lo..u need it. I mean look at ur face man!
Sh: (throwing the can on the ground) Mujhe tumhari meherbaani nahi
chahiye! (pointing a finger at him) U tricked me!?
Ka: What trick?
Sh: Tumne ye jhooti dosti ka naatak kia taakey mera game se dhyan hat jaye aur tum jeet jao!
Ka: What?
Sh: Plz ab naatak mat karo. (innocent & upset) Tumhe jeetna hi tha..to match fixing hi karwa dete. kisi ki feelings ke saath khelne ka kya
matlab hai?
Ka: Shilpa? Kiski feelings ke saath khela hai mene? kya kehrahi ho tum?
A guy with a box full of balls passes by. Shilpa takes a ball from him and shows it to karan.
Sh: (innocently) Iski!! Iss ball ki feelings ke saath khela tumne!
Throws the ball on the ground and leaves angrily hitting her feet on the ground with every step, leaving karan, confused.
The game continued. Shilpa was back on crease with Jennifer. Karan took the bowling. He gave a hard throw but shilpa took it easily. After that the game went easy. The score moved swiftly but faster than before. People started to think that there was something in the Rockers' drink. They, soon ,reached 300/40. Shilpa noticed that the fielding had not been that tight in the overs after the drinks break. But it dint relle seem much like Karan had done it purposely. But 1 thing was way clear than anything else, that the target was easy now. They could win easily. Shilpa could take the powerplay in case of insecurity but she din't relle feel the need. Then she realised that becoz of what had happened earlier in this match, she couldn't be such an idiot to trust karan again. So she took the powerplay.
The game soon came to an end. Shilpa's Angel Rockers had won the world cup. Everyone rejoiced. All except Shilpa. She wasn't very happy. Instead, she was confused. She knew she had no need to take the powerplay in the last 10 overs but her egos were not allowing her to accept that. She couldn't believe how such a difficult match turned into an easy one. There had to be some depth to it. Anyways she collected the trophy and tried to distract herself from the thoughts.
The next day:
Shilpa was walking in the park near the beach. Cool breeze blew in her face making her hair flow along. She had her earphones on and was listening to some soft music when she heard some voice. At first she thought she heard her name. But then she wasn't so sure. Soon she had some strong feeling to turn around and check. When she did, She saw karan trying to catch up with her. She stopped and waited for him to reach her.
Ka: Hi!
Sh: Hi.
Ka: kaisi ho?
Sh: kya chahiye tumhe?
Ka: Kuch nai (after a bit of thinking) kal ke liye congrats.
Sh: Thanks.
Ka: Err…can i…er..take a walk with ya?
Sh: (smiled) Sure.
They walked silently for a long moment. Actually, not exactly silent,
their hearts were talking to each other. So here's the ''hearty
conversation'':
Sh: No thanks 4 the game karan. Main jaanti hoon tum jaan boojh kar haare the.
Ka: Kya karta?Tumhe mera pyaar pehle to dosti laga, Aur phir naatak.
Sh: Kyun kiya aisa?
Ka: Tumhare liye.
Sh: mere liye?
Ka: han tumhare liye. Jab tum khush hoti ho tab tumhari aankhon ki chamak
mujhe buht achi lagti hai.
Sh: Tumne aapni team ke baare mein nai socha? aur apne supporters ke baare mein?
Ka: Jab tumhe dekhta hoon to kisi aur ka khayal nai ata.
Soon, karan finally breaks the hearty conversation and the presently
silence.
Ka:Ahem!..err..Shilpa..main kuch…kehna chahta tha tumse.
Sh: Acha? bolo!
Ka: Wo…emm…main..tum…tumhe bura to nai lagega na?
Sh: Jab tak tum bologe nai to kaise pata chalega ke bura lagega ya nahi?
Ka: yeah! right!..phir to rehne do! Risk nahi lete!
Sh: Acha acha nai bura maanungi..bolo na!
Ka: (chuckles and takes a deep breath) (in full speed) Tum mujhe buht
pasand ho shilpa!
Sh: (confused ) kya kya kya? karan thoda dheere se bolo na!
Ka: (sighs) (takes both her hands in his, he looks at them and smiles
more like blushing)I love you shilpa. Kya tum bhi mujhse….?
Sh: (interupting) O my god! Karan what do I say? u don't even know I had
a crush on u since college! GOSH! This is like a dream come true.
And they hug!
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