Against the World (A KulCha Friendship Fanfiction)

The ban

Warner hadn't been wrong when he thought he had handed the world a weapon. Till then in 2020, Kuldeep and Yuzi were the leading wicket takers in T20s, ruling the bowling charts in all respects.

And there was no way the other countries would let this go.

India's next march was with England, and as luck would have it, Kuldeep's first over was to Moeen Ali. Moeen was as decent a person as you would expect an international cricketer to be, but Bairstow, who was at the other end, was not.

Ali hit Kuldeep for a 4 the very first ball.

Every member of the ICT winced.

Kuldeep felt his confidence slipping swiftly.

The next ball went for a 2.

And then Bairstow started taunting Kuldeep in Warner's lines, extra charged to because it was Moeen Ali batting.

Kuldeep knew Yuzi would get riled up if he thought even mildly that he was upset, so he kept his face quite cheerful.

Yuzi wasn't fooled.

Kuldeep found himself exceedingly nervous and on-the-edge all through his over, not because of Moeen Ali at the striker's end, or Bairstow's sledging--he was past that now--but because he could see from Yuzi's expression that he was losing his sanity.

The ICT felt relieved after Kuldeep's over got over without mishap, and then Yuzi went to bowl.

Bairstow grinned at Yuzi, showing all his teeth.

"Can't be there to protect him always, can you? Not when he really needed it."

Yuzi forced himself to breathe normally.

He didn't know what was wrong with him these days. He was getting quite bad tempered lately. He couldn't take a joke as a joke or sledging in his stride.

Why was he letting these get to him this badly?

And with the best intentions of keeping his temper, Yuzi bowled his over.

Bairstow was deeply disappointed to see Yuzi's calm demeanour, and began to think extreme.

In Kuldeep's next over, as he and Moeen were crossing over for a run, Bairstow made sure to hit Kuldeep with the edge of his bat as he passed him.

At the slips, Virat straightened up, his eyes flashing--but almost before even Kuldeep realized it had been intentional, Yuzi flew in from the circle, shaking with rage.

He would not allow them to touch Kuldeep.

Yuzi collided with Bairstow and shoved him hard, and half raised his hand to punch him right on his nose.

Kuldeep's heart was sinking down to his feet, but he had the sense to catch Yuzi's arm in time.

"Leave me at--" Yuzi was about to wrest his arm free, but the moment he saw it was Kuldeep, he stopped.

Kuldeep stared into Yuzi's eyes, the disappointment so clear that Yuzi knew he had done a terrible mistake, because Kuldeep never got disappointed in him.

This time neither Virat nor Mahi bhai's words could sway the umpire.

Yuzi was banned for the next match with the warning that if he did something vaguely offensive in the next to next match, he would be banned from the tournament.

__________

In the bus, Virat coolly told Yuzi to sit right in the front by himself and try to get rid of his temper.