Memories in gold against a purple sky

The world doesn't play fair (Shreyas-Harshit)

3rd May, 2024

No one had ever heard of a player being banned after a wicket celebration, and there had been some pretty wild celebrations in the history of the IPL.

Of course, their team teased Harshit ceaselessly about the almost-flying kiss celebration since it landed him with a one-match ban.

Nitish blew kisses at Harshit day and night. Russell and Raman were caught on the camera doing the same after KKR defeated MI at the Wankhede stadium after 12 years.

In the post match discussion (or chaos, as some people put it), Salty ended his speech with, "All the seamers were great, Starcy, Vaibhav...well, not really..." He decided to stick to the truth; Vaibhav hadn't been good that day. "...but you've got next game, mate." He blew a kiss at Vaibhav before he sat.

Vaibhav joined in the laughter. So did Harshit, like he usually did, but somehow Shreyas noticed across the room that his eyes turned to the floor immediately afterwards.

He felt a shadow of concern, maybe simply because the gesture seemed uncharacteristic on Harshit.

Harshit rarely, if ever, bowed his head.

_________________

Shreyas didn't know why it bugged so much. So much, in fact, that he left his packing halfway--even though they had a flight to Lucknow very early morning, since the next match was only a day away--and made his way to Harshit's room.

"Hey, Harshit."

Harshit, who'd been lying on his back, jumped out of bed quickly. "I'm almost done, Shreyas bhaiya!"

Shreyas assumed he meant the packing, which clearly he hadn't started.

"Oh, we can see to that later, even I'm not done," he said.

Harshit grinned, but now Shreyas was sure...there was definitely something other than joy in that grin.

"I--was thinking--" he said, racking his brains. "--it felt like we've got one over BCCI today. Defending a below par score against that line up without our best performing pacer in the tournament."

Harshit flushed. Whether it was for being called their best pacer in spite of Starcy's presence or for the reference to the ban, Shreyas couldn't be sure.

"It's like they tried to ruin our party, and couldn't." Shreyas kept his voice light. "They're always out there trying to ruin people's lives."

"Yes, always," said Harshit, rising to the bait immediately. "Like Gauti bhaiya says, their job is to ruin Indian cricket, not preserve it. What they did to Rinku...!"

Their team had not yet got over the injustice of Rinku's unfair exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad.

"...and to you," added Harshit indignantly. "Not taking your word even when you were injured!"

And that was a topic Shreyas liked to avoid.

"And to you, too," said Shreyas. "Today's ban was blasphemy."

"Do you genuinely think that, Shreyas bhaiya?" Harshit asked.

"Yes, Harshit, every person in this camp genuinely thinks that. They've been joking around about it because nobody takes it seriously."

"But I missed the historic match anyway," said Harshit, a bit (or a lot) moodily. "I didn't know KKR hasn't won at the Wankhede 12 years."

"Neither did I. Nitish is the stat monger, not us." Shreyas reached over to pat Harshit's head. "I'm sorry you missed it for such a stupid, unfair reason. But we won even without you, that's a great positive for our bowling line up--" He realized he was perhaps being tactless. "--and we'll have you back from the next match, so I'd like to see Rahul's batting line up answering that."