A/N: Hope Shubman recovers quickly. More than Shubman the player, I'm worried for Shubman the person because missing 2-3 games of the wc will be upsetting and it could take a toll on his mental health, but I hope my man's strong enough to come out of it and smash teams on his return and his WC debut match.
Also. Our top order has no shame. I'm sorry but this is the cold hard truth. Rohit-0, Ishan-0, Shreyas-0. Chasing a score of 199 when u can literally run a ball to the target in 50 overs, our mahaan T20 specialists decide to take on Mitch Starc. MITCH STARC AND JOSH HAZLEWOOD on a fucking rank turner in their opening spells they've been playing ODIs long enough to know how to play in situations like these and yes I'll admit Rohit was a little unlucky but good lords idiots sudharjao Virat's not going to be around forever to drag ur asses out of the mud regardless of the format. KL my man I'm ever so grateful it was him at the other end playing freely while Virat absorbed the pressure and rotated strike. He played the role of anchor beautifully with Rahul, reminded me a lot of how Hardik had played second fiddle to Virat last year against Pak.
Onto the story now.
Mahi bhai hadn't told the boys he'd be coming to watch the match at the stadium, but he had run into Ravi Shastri who of course proceeded to tell that on air at the pre match presentations, fortunately for him, he knows none of the boys would have been paying any attention to what was going on outside the dressing room, all their attention would be on their game plan and fighting off their pre game jitters.
Being back here at Chepauk was like coming home, he loved the vibe of this stadium which had given him happiness and sadness in all his years of playing cricket, it was home. He watched from the VIP box with his family at how Rohit's aggressive mindset worked and put the pressure on the Aussie batsmen, he watched with pride as Jaddu ripped through their batting line up, he also watched with disdain how at every drinks break, Virat would go over to the opposition have a nice little chat with a bright cheery grin and walk back to his position on receiving glares from Rohit,
"Arey Mahi it's adorable. He's still a kid and Maxwell will be the only one ready to entertain him on field most of the time." Sakshi told her husband giggling watching him glare at that overgrown child on field dancing along to the music after talking to Steve Smith.
Most of the players were stretching themselves because of the heat and hydrating themselves and there was this man dancing to the music engaging the crowd and just goofing off. But everyone could see that determined set of his jaw when play resumed, giving it his all, being really active on field while fielding and his intensity hadn't wavered one bit till the last wicket fell at 199.
Ro was extremely proud of his boys and didn't hesitate to show it the minute they walked into the dressing room.
"It looks to be an easy target. We'll take our time, get settled and we should be able to chase this down with no problem."
If only things worked that way with this team in a run-a-ball chase. With Shub having dengue, Ishan was nervous opening the innings with Rohit in a World Cup opening match at that. Mitch Starc's opening spell looked deadly, and the swing he was able to generate made anxiety crawl up all their necks and oh what a delivery that was from Starc as he dismissed Ishan for a golden duck, the ball had swung away like a snake and Ishan fell for the trap swinging his bat at that delivery and was caught behind by Cam Green. Ishan couldn't even look Virat in the eye as he walked back shaking his head.
Virat was caught off guard, he expected early wickets to fall but not in the very first over itself with just 2 on the board and all of them coming from extras and not a single run off the bats of the openers. Virat played out the two remaining deliveries of the over and he saw as Starc tried to throw the ball back at him in mock attempt of a run out much like Johnson had done all the way back in 2014 in a test series, he smiled however watching that teasing glint in his rival friend's eyes. But then second over Hoff took his run up and third ball, Rohit was gone trapped for an lbw and it took everything in Virat to not panic, the silence was jarring, Hoff was celebrating with his teammates, Shreyas walked in. Virat quickly realized Rah was still getting padded up having just come out of a shower. Three balls later even Shreyas was gone.
