He Couldn't Take It Anymore || An ICT Fanfiction

A/N-4

It's not easy.

It never has been easy.

I was three years old when India won the 2007 T20 World Cup, seven years old when India won the 2011 World Cup and nine years old when India won the 2013 Champions Trophy. To say the least, with zero knowledge and zero interest in cricket.

So, vaguely, I can't remember India winning an ICC tournament. Yes, I've watched the highlights about a thousand times and even the full match replays but I've never lived the moment.

And yet again today, I think I've been denied the privilege yet again.

The earliest memory that I can recall of me watching cricket with my interest is the 2016 IPL final. No, I wasn't a cricket fan then, let alone an RCB fan. No, I didn't know the heartbreak.

I don't remember how, why or what clicked in me to watch this sport. I recall bits and pieces.

I remember Hardik getting run out in the CT 2017 Finals and I remember my dad switching off the television. That was the first time I had watched a whole tournament and that was the first time my heart broke for this team. Just a little bit. But not for Virat Kohli.

Yet.

The next moment that I recall is the India tour of Australia 2018-19. That was the first time, I felt proud of this team. I remember the team dancing together, and Virat posing with the trophy. I remember history being written.

And yeah, that's when I think, I started liking Virat.

And now, since I'd had both knowledge and interest in cricket, I started feeling for this team, this man.

I cried when M.S. Dhoni got run out. For the first time. Over a cricket match.

I was overjoyed when Virat became the first Indian to score a century in a pink ball test. (Which, by the way, was his 70th hundred.)

I think I must have watched the entire match twice or thrice when Virat scored that 94* against West Indies.

I jumped in my seat when Shardul and Shami defended runs in the last overs so that we went for two consecutive super overs against New Zealand.

I spilt tears of joy when India won the BG Trophy for the second consecutive time, especially with their last fit eleven standing.

I lost it when we lost the WTC Final.

I pumped my fist into the air when we conquered Lord's, giving the world the definition of "Never rule India out of the game."

I cried when Virat left the T20I captaincy. All I could do was stare at my phone for fifteen minutes, processing things.

He left RCB's captaincy too, which broke us.

But when he did play his last match as the RCB captain, I was like, "Koi baat nhi. Sirf ek hafte bhar ka dukh hai. World Cup bhi hai na iske baad. Wo jeet lenge."

And today, as I pen this down, not a single tear sheds from my eyes because there aren't any left. Whatever was inside it has shattered completely. 

Maybe it's because I could never live the moment of success.

Maybe it is because all I have seen is Virat Kohli getting hate, but no, I've never seen him with a trophy that he led.

Trophies don't matter to fans like us, but in the eyes of many cricket analysts and experts and some very good fans, it is the definition of how good or bad you were.

They don't see the team you created. 

They don't see your efforts.

They don't see your achievements outside of ICC tournaments.

All they care is that a shimmering golden trophy should have been there in your hands, otherwise you were useless.

And sometimes when you feel you are too strong to be affected, you see that one bad apple among the nine good ones.

Virat Kohli won't be the captain of this team after today.

Maybe I won't see this same team, which I have grown to admire so much, playing together again.

The one last wish I had from this match was for Vi to win the toss. And he did. That's the happiest, I've been today.

All I pray to God is just once, let luck be on Virat, Rohit, Jinks, Bhuvi, Shikhar, Ash, Jaddu, Kuldeep, Yuzi, Rahul, Rishabh, Hardik and Mahi Bhai's side before it's too late.

This was the team that I admire and this is the team I'll be loving eternally.

And NO, THIS WASN'T A DISAPPOINTING OR A VERY POOR INDIAN CAMPAIGN AS MANY HAVE STATED.

I WAS PROUD OF YOU YESTERDAY, I'M PROUD OF YOU TODAY, I'LL BE PROUD OF YOU TOMORROW.

IN YOUR BEST AND IN YOUR WORST.

Always and forever.

Love,
An ICT fan.

(I'm sorry if I offended someone by rambling on Virat.)