when 77 met 32 [ishman ff] [shubish]

U-19

Shubman's POV:

I came to my dream place: Cricket, the love of my life. That statement encapsulates my entire life. I have been playing cricket for as long as I can remember. My father was my first coach. He taught me everything he knew. At first, I played cricket because it made my father happy. But then I started to understand why it made him so happy.

Now I breathed cricket, and there is nothing else I could be addicted to more than cricket. There is nothing else that could make me happier. Well, not until now. But there will be something, or rather someone, who would be my addiction and my anchor more than cricket. But that would be future Shubman's problem, not mine.

I entered Dharmashala with just one thought in mind: do or die. Yeah, it sounds cliché, I know. But yeah, that was exactly what I was feeling. I am here to prove myself, prove my worth. I was chosen amongst hundreds of other players, and I want to be worthy of being here rather than being a waste of space. I want to climb up the stairs of success before falling, then collect myself and climb again.

Andddd I fell. Yeah, it sounds just like my life. I fell in the middle of the ground, and now everybody thinks that I am an idiot who can't even walk properly. Wow, I always somehow manage to make a fool out of myself. How amazing.

I was drowning in self-misery and hatred when a hand was held towards me. I looked up, and there stood a man not much older than myself with a pretty smile on his face, his demeanor friendly enough to befriend a fucking dragon. I took the hand because how could I not? He was standing there all smiley, and I was awkwardly lying in the middle of the ground. So, I took his hand and stood on my two feet.

He then started to gather my stuff while I was staring at him like he was the one who pushed me. "Hi, I am Ishan Kishan." He held his hand out for a handshake, but I needed a headshake because why the fuck can I not move or say anything at all? Hell, even an awkward hi would be enough at a moment like this, but my dumb brain decided to hang just this moment.

His smile started to turn all awkward because, god, I just ignored him completely. "Shubmann," it was Rishab Pant. We met once before, and he was a bit too friendly, so we clicked instantly and have been in touch ever since. "Oh, hi Ishan, met him already?" It was a question directed towards Ishan. "yeah.....well. kind of yes." Oh god was it awkward; this Ishan person looked like nothing could do anything to him, and I made even a person like that feel awkward. Wow, how amazing. Just perfect.

"Did something happen?" It was rishab. Well yes, if you have eyes, something did happen. I think I might be getting a heart attack right now because yes, I admit that I am an introvert who talks less, but never in my entire existence have I felt this helpless and tongue-tied before. And now they were both looking at me, and I felt a very overwhelming urge to run away.

Amazingly, I felt like running far away from here from cricket from the entire world and never showing my face to anyone at all. Live a quiet life away from the limelight and cricket; even farming sounded like an amazing idea right now. I think my forehead is sweating a bit too much, and my heart is going to come out of my chest if I stand here for 5 more minutes, and yeah, I will most definitely cry. I think Ishan noticed this.

"It's okay, gill, breath." And he was thumping my back. I think I was holding my breath because I breathed out, and now I feel much better. And then he started to slowly caress my back as if you would to a nauseous person. That did help. "Tha-thank you," I managed. "Are you okay?" It was Rishab this time; he actually looked quite worried. "Yeah, I think I am."

And then I turned to Ishan, who was now smiling at me with one of the sweetest smiles I have ever witnessed. "Sorry, hi, I am Shubman Gill." "I know, I was waiting for you. See you around." With that, he walked away. And I turned to Rishab with a confused look on my face. "Why do you look like that now, idiot? Literally, every senior knows you. You are quite famous, you know." He said it with a teasing smile.

I have no idea why in the world they would know me. Well, some of my doubts got cleared out in the next few days when I learned that Ishan Kishan, who was going to play in the under-19 World Cup this year, knew everybody on the campus. It did not matter if you were a senior, a junior, or even a janitor; he knew everybody. No wonder he knew me also.

But in the next few days, I learned something else too. Rishab was right; indeed, quite a lot of seniors knew me. I still don't know why, though. The under-19 players of this year were decided, but we were here to practice. And so, there were team A, team B, team C, and so on. These teams had nothing to do with the under-19 World Cup; these were all domestic.

Juniors were here to practice for the selection of the under-19 World Cup for the next year, and the seniors who were not already selected were here for yet another chance. The selected players, though, were playing to practice for the World Cup. I was selected to play for team B. I don't know what this is called, but the captain of my team was one and only Ishan Kishan. Iconic, isn't it?

"Hey, you look much better today." It was Ishan who had walked to me right after the selection of the teams. "Hey, yeah, I don't know what happened that day." "It's okay; I think it was a minor panic attack. I am not sure why you would panic enough to get a panic attack, though. Does it happen often?" "Nope, it was the first time; I didn't even know what it was called."

"Hello, lucky guy, Ishan." It was rishab again. "That's not fair at all, Ishan; you stole Shubman; I knew him before you." "Well, it's not my fault that Shubman is destined to be on my team. Be ready to lose fucker." I don't know why, but my heart picked up speed at that. "Fuck you," Rishab cursed, and it did not sound genuine at all. Rishab was the captain of Team A. "Shubman, come join my team instead. This goon is going to work you stupid."

"Well, it's not in my hands to change teams, is it?" I said. Well, it was. I mean, we could exchange some players if we wanted to, but I wanted to stay, and it might have shown on my face because both Rishab and Ishan shared a look and a smile bloomed on both of their faces together. A teasing smile on Rishab's face and a grateful smile on Ishan's. I had no idea what either of the smiles meant.