Cricket One Shots- BL

Is He Mine? ft Shubman Gill

"Hey, Rachin. Didn't expect to see you here. Vacation with family?", the Indian coach Dinesh Kartik asked Rachin when he saw him in the stadium."Vacation is secondary. Primarily here to watch my son debuting", Rachin replied.

"Son?", DK asked surprised."Yeah. There he is, Aan", Rachin replied."Dad, call baba urgently. I need to talk to him now", Aan ran up to them and demanded. "Aan, you are already on the field. You cannot access the phone now. Anyway your baba will already be in the academy, he won't pick up the call", Rachin explained to his son."Oh please dad. In 18 years, I haven't seen baba not attending your calls. Please call him. It is very urgent", Aan teased his dad. "Ish, Aan wants to talk- seems he has some urgent wicket keeping doubts", said Rachin, handing over the phone to Aan."Re-Re, please come here. Meet DK, he is the Indian team coach. We know each other from our IPL times. DK, these are my girls Rene and Rewa. There, with Rutu's family is my youngest, Rehaan", Rachin introduced his family.

"You have 4,including twins? I have to give it to you, man. And how is it that no one knew about your son till he made his debut? And where is the wife- I am sure all credits for raising these kids go to her", DK asked, in awe of the family he met. "My partner is a very private person, so they have stayed out of the limelight. But yeah, if Aan does well, then all of it might change", Rachin replied.

"Dad, baba asked you to call grandpa and grandma. And he asked you to keep an eye on the girls", Aan said handing the phone back."Aan, you can ask DK for help in case of wicket keeping doubts. He knows Indian pitches in and out. I am sure he will offer you some tips, despite being in the opposition camp", Rachin advised his son.

"Of course, my sons didn't chose my path- one is into squash and the other is an engineer. So I will be more than happy to guide you", DK replied.

Back in the Indian dressing room, DK got into a discussion with the batting coach, Rohit Sharma."Ro, did you know, that new boy debuting for the kiwis is Rachin Ravindra's son?", DK asked. "Rachin ka beta? But his name is some Pandey na?", Rohit enquired. "He said something about a partner- maybe last name uske partner ka ho. But that was not what I was thinking. Uss ladke ko dekha tha kya? He looks so familiar- you look at him and you feel like you have seen him before, but I can't place where exactly", DK said. "Aisa kya? I didn't actually notice him so much. Will keep an eye", Rohit said to his friend.

By lunch break on Day 1, the young Kiwi wicket keeper had made quite an impression. It was very rare for overseas keepers to feel at home on Indian pitches, but Aan Pandey seemed to fit right in and everybody wondered how. "DK, why does he remind me of Ishan Kishan? Features, not so much, but his wicket keeping style and mannerisms are exactly like Ishan's. Kya pata, usne hi coach kiya ho, nobody has heard of him since so long", Rohit wondered aloud to DK.

Aan got a chance to bat on the second day of the match. With a solid defence against spinners and some attacking shots against the pacers, he stayed not out at 46 at the end of Day 2. "You did very well, kid- you have a solid technique. Looks like your dad has trained you well", Rohit complimented the youngster. "Thank you Rohit sir. My baba has shown me hours and hours of videos of you and Virat Sir's batting and I have taken inspiration from both of your batting styles", Aan responded.

By the end of the first test, New Zealand was down 1-0 in the series. While everyone expected them to collapse against Indian spinners, the kiwis showed amazing resilience,especially through their 18yr old wicket keeper who scored gritty half centuries in both innings. Rohit's doubts got much persistent after he saw the guy bat. He called up his good friend to share his thoughts,"Vi, did you watch the match today?", he asked. "Arre Ro, tere ko pata hai na I don't watch matches much. Kya hua? Phir se kuch kaand ho gaya kya?", Virat asked. "Arre nahi. Just watch the highlights if possible. There is this new guy playing for New Zealand- Aan Pandey naam hai uska. Reminds me of two boys we know. Dekh toh zara", Rohit said. Virat switched on his television and started watching the highlights of the match. "Arre BC, yeh Shubman ka left handed version kyu lag raha hai?", Virat asked, surprised by the resemblance. "Hai na? Now watch yesterday's highlights and see him keeping", Rohit advised. Virat watched for just 5 minutes before commenting,"Is he related to Ishan? His wicketkeeping style is exactly like Ishan's aur thoda Ishan jaisa dikhta bhi hai. Chal kya raha hai, Ro? Why does he look like aur Sita and Gita?", Virat asked, feeling even more confused.