The group had assembled on the ground as pre planned! A motley group of 11 boys and girls. All shapes, sizes, and ages. Then began the most crucial job of the team selection, but first the selection of the Captains.
Everyone wanted to be the Captain… from Ravi (who thought himself no less than the Shastri) the eldest at 11, to Bhola at the ripe young age of 7(who perceived himself to be going in the footsteps of the God of Cricket). Ravi used all his diplomacy and negotiating skills to propose Ravi and Sachin should be the Captains as they had proved their skills by scoring the maximum runs last year. The others could not argue about that, so grudgingly they agreed. Sachin tossed a reverential salute to Ravi, in thanks.
Now the task of selecting the teams. The two captains had a private meeting for a few minutes and decided they would call out their teams based on their skills. First the batsmen. Ravi called for Sumit and Sachin chose Hira, the fiery batsman. Sita, the super bowler found herself on Ravi’s team as did Lakshmi the no nonsense fielder. Sachin on the other hand picked Gurpreet, the all-rounder and Priti the ace bowler. Bhola was stunned to see the grown ups had not picked him till the last. He craned his neck to look at the tall, lanky Ravi and then stare at Sachin who was not so tall, but had the most stylish haircut, with the hi-top, taper fade, which flopped majestically when he ran. He could feel tears pricking his eyes, the rejection washing over him…. And that too when he was as good a batsman as any one of them and a mean fielder to boot. No ball ever went past him.
Sachin looked at his team, looking for some indication, the stoic expressions not giving him any hint whatsoever. Ravi, on the other hand looked at Bhola. He recalled the time when he was in such a situation and his wise grandfather had asked the older boys that the team which had a handicap would be given more chances to rule out the discrepancy. He understood Bhola’s pain, and the kid was good.
Ravi cleared his throat, and looked at Sachin, “I will take Bhola. But, we will have to make some changes, you know. We are playing 20-20, but Bhola being the youngest, barely taller than the bat himself, will be a handicap,” he said.”
“Ok! So what do you want?” asked Sachin.
“ Nothing much. Just one over more… We will play 20-21!”
