His First Love |A Shubman Gill Fanfiction|

07| Distractions

[Note: The Indian 'Test' team and 'ODI' team is still under Virat's captaincy, the 'T20' team is under Rohit's captaincy. Dhoni is playing all formats of cricket except for 'Test' cricket. I'm writing this here to avoid any confusions in future]

1590 words

Melbourne, Australia

"Shubman get your mind straight. The ball is passing by right besides you. Why aren't you stopping it? If you can't do your job properly why are you even playing in the team" An angry Virat blasted on him, the tiredness of all the travelling and the current score of 196/0 was making it even worse. Currently the Indian team was under pressure as the Australians weren't giving them any chance of getting wickets.
"Cheeku, calm down! He's trying his best" came Mahi's voice
"If he was doing his best we would have saved many runs" Virat said angrily as he went back to field near the boundary line.
"Don't take his words to heart. I'm sure he said that in a heat of the moment. You should just focus now, I know it's tiring but we need to do it" Mahi explained Shubman as he tried his best to console him.
"Its okay Bhai, I know it was my fault" Shubman said returning back to his original position.
The Australian team kept on adding runs after runs to the scoreboard as they seemed completely unstoppable. Finally after playing for the entire 50 overs, the score ended up to 380 with just 3 wickets down.
After a short break of 30 minutes it was the Indian team who had to bat now. The team did get a pretty good start from their openers Rohit and Virat who scored 50 runs for no loss but the streak of runs was ended with Rohit's wicket. Soon after the team lost quick 4 wickets which included Shubman, Shreyas, Hardik and Mahi. Though Virat and Rahul tried to put some runs on board, they weren't enough to chase the score set by the Australians. In the end the Indian team lost the match by a huge score of 100 runs.
"Shubman, Virat bhai is calling you" Shreyas said as soon as Shubman stepped inside the dressing room. With a quick nod of acknowledgement, he left towards the hallway which Shreyas had pointed towards.
"What the hell was that Shubman" was the first thing Virat said as soon as he saw Shubman "why were you playing like a child who doesn't know anything about cricket"
"I'm sorry bhaiya"
"Stop those apologies, they don't justify what you did today. Like what was even wrong with today, you couldn't stop the boundaries, dropping the easiest catches you could get and to make it worse you got out on a duck"
"It won't happen again bhaiya"
"Listen to me Shubman, if you are going to get this distracted by your personal life and let it impact your performance on field, then I must say you are being unprofessional and I'm definitely not fighting with the selectors for someone like you" Virat said in anger while leaving the room they were in.
The team members along with some of their wives who were standing just outside the room got in to comfort Shubman while Anushka left behind Virat.

"Virat" Anushka called out to a rushing Virat.
"Nush, not right now!"
"No we have to talk right now Virat. What do you think you were doing while yelling at him, is he the only one who was responsible for today loss. Don't forget Virat, the entire team didn't perform today"
"Well he could've atleast stopped those boundaries, we would have definitely had a target that could be chased" Virat retorted
"Oh in that case, even you dropped Smith's catch and he proceed to score a century, if he hadn't score those 120 runs the score would've been pretty less , so now should the team blame you for today's lose" Anushka said as Virat went completely silent.
"Today you told him that you won't back him anymore, what if Mahi bhai said the same to you after that 2014 series, what if he told you that the selectors and media is lashing at him for backing you despite your worst performance and you will be dropped from the team, would you be in the position where you are today. No right! You need to understand that everybody has a bad day and I know you yourself had one today. I read all those articles  bashing you for picking Shubman over the other senior players, telling that you always have favoritism in the team, calling you a failed captain but that doesn't mean you will take your anger out on who is innocent. If you let these senseless articles affect you mentality, aren't you the one who is unprofessional. Also about Shubman getting distracted I heard from Siraj that he read all those articles including the ones which said that he is still in the team only because you and Rohit favour him over others. Now you tell me how can you expect someone to be at their best after knowing that everybody thinks he isn't even worth to be in the team." Anushka concluded
"I am really a bad captain right. I couldnt understand what my own teammate was going through " Virat said trying his best not to choke on his words
"No you aren't, you can never be a bad captain" said Shubman who was running down the stairs and ended up hugging Virat "it was my fault, I should have given my best on the field. You always support and trust me but I just couldn't give you the results you deserved. I'm really sorry bhaiya"
"Don't apologise, it should be me who apologies to you. I should have understood your situation before yelling at you. Please forgive me and always remember even if I have to fight with the selectors for you a million times I will do it, not because I favour you but because you have the potential to play for the Indian team" hearing it Shubman proceeded to tighten his hug around his bhaiya while tears ran through his eyes. A few tears too managed to run from the captain's eyes.
"Ohh look at out two crybabies" Rohit said trying to lighten the mood around.
"Rits you remember right you warned me that I'm literally going to marry a toddler who likes to pretend to be strong but will cry over the slightest thing" Anushka asked
"Ofcourse I remember but why are you asking about this now" Ritika asked a bit confused while everybody present there now had their attention on both the girls
"Well if things work in favour of our dear brother and he manages to get in relation with Aarushi, we'll  have to warn her about how she is also getting herself a crybaby"
That was all it took for everybody present there to burst out laughing while there stood one boy whose face had gone completely red with embarrassment just by the mention of her name. Oh how he wished 'ki ye dharti fhat jaye aur vo usme samajaye' (the ground just cracks open and he is swallowed by the it).

Mumbai, India

"Hey why are you packing your bags now. It's almost 10 pm" asked Yash as he had just arrived at the apartment which he shared with Aarushi.
"You remember the presentation I was working on back in Hyderabad" Aarushi asked to which she received a nod as an answer "Well that is shortlisted among the top three presentation for the final project. The company will choose one among them as their implementation plan"
"That's such a great news. Finally your hard work is being rewarded. But I'm still not understanding why are you packing your bags" Yash asked while passing the pouch which Aarushi was pointing at
"The final meeting is being held at their main office in Australia. So I need to go there and my flight is 3 hours so I need to pack all this and leave immediately otherwise I'll miss the flight"
"Alright, then I'll drop you off at the airport, its pretty dark already"
"Ok sure just be qui- Aachoo"
"What's wrong, are you sick" Yash asked while putting his palm on her forhead trying to check if she as fever.
"No yaar but I don't know for some reason I'm sneezing like this since morning"
"Well then somebody must be thinking about you"
"Kuch bhi" Aarushi said side eyeing her bestfriend as she tried to stop herself from sneezing once again.
"Believe it or not, but that is the truth" Yash said as a matter of fact and left to freshen up
"Oh then they must be thinking about me as if their life revolves around me because I'm sneezing like this since afternoon" Aarushi yelled trying to make sure her voice reached Yash's ears

Well only if she knew that approx. 6306 miles away from her, was a boy who was thinking about her like his world just revolved around her.

To be continued..................

Since Aarushi is travelling to Australia too, do y'all think she will meet the Indian team and if she does will Shubamn finally end the answer to his long awaited question?

I hope y'all like this chapter. Do tell me your favourite chapter till now ✨️
Also don't forget to leave a comment and vote for the chapter. Luv y'all ❤️