||Anya||

It's match day finally and I really can't wait to see Shubman play today. I'm even more excited 'cause it will be my first experience. It's a T20 match and will be played in the evening. Riya called me this morning and said that she'll pick me and Aryan on her way. I took a half day leave from office and came back 'cause I don't want to miss anything from the match mainly because Shubman is captaining the side.

Deciding on outfits has been a dilemma for me since Shubman came into my life. Earlier I never really cared what I wear but now for some reason I don't feel like going in front of Shubman that way, I feel the need to look good and impressive.

After thinking for over an hour I decided to wear a white dress paired with blue denim jacket and white sneakers. Dressing up in casuals is best when you can't decide what to wear. I lightly brushed my hair and applied minimal make up before heading downstairs.

Aryan and I were sitting on the couch and waiting for Riya to come when my phone beeped.

Riya
Waiting outside your gate. Come asap!

"Riya is here, let's go!" I tell Aryan and we left.

"Hey girl, what's up?" Riya asked me.

"I'm excited!" I squeal closing the car door.

"So am I" she said enthusiastically. "Hey Aryan" she greeted him.

"Hey di, how are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Are you equally excited?" She asked him.

"Can't wait" he said excitedly.

"Let's go then" Riya said and started driving.

"Isn't Myra coming?" I asked Riya.

"No, her grandmother is ill and her parents are not in town so she had to stay back" she tells me.

"Ohh, sad" I replied.

We reached the Feroz Shah Kotla in no time. Riya parked the car in the VIP parking after which we went inside.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was electrifying. Almost every seat in the stadium was occupied and everyone was yelling their favourite player's name.

The players from both the teams were warming up in the ground in their training outfit. My eyes instantly started searching for Shubman and I found him. He was standing near the dug out talking to his coach. The crowd near him was constantly yelling his name so he turned and waved at them giving a big smile. My lips formed a curve seeing that.

"When will the toss happen?" Aryan asked.

"Ten minutes from now" Riya answered.

"How often do they show you on the big screen?" I asked her.

"Not much if I don't do something weird" she giggled. "It's really annoying to be honest" she added.

"I'll be careful then" I laughed.

Shubman went back to the dressing room and came back after five minutes wearing his jersey and holding a piece of paper which is probably the team sheet. He went near the pitch where the Australian team's captain was already standing. It's toss time!

"I wish he wins the toss" Riya said with her fingers crossed.

"Me too" I replied.

They are been shown on the big screen now. Shubman is holding the coin and the umpire asked him to toss it. He tossed it in the air and the Australian captain called for tails and our bad, it is tails. They opted to field first.

"We wanted to field first as well but doesn't matter we'll still give our hundred percent and hopefully win the match" Shubman answered when the interviewer asked him. He went back to the dressing room after this.

"Shubman opens right?" I asked Riya.

"Yeah he opens with Prithvi" she replied.

After fifteen minutes he came down padded up wearing a helmet and carrying his bat along with Prithvi. Prithvi took the strike and Shubman stood at the non-striker's end. The bowler bowled the first delivery and Prithvi flicked it for a single.

Shubman is on strike now and suddenly my heart started pounding really hard. I was sweating too much and my hands were shivering. Oh God, what is happening to me?

Shubman sent the first ball he faced to the boundary which relaxed me a bit.

"Are you okay Di?" Aryan asked looking at my sweaty face.

"Are you feeling cold? Your hands are shivering" Riya asked in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about me" I assure them.

"If you say so" Riya said and continued with the match.

It was raining boundaries till the fifth over after which Prithvi edged one to the wicket keeper. Manjot joined Shubman at the crease. Shubman continued to strike boundaries and sixes. Everytime the ball went into air, my heart literally stopped beating till it went to the crowd.

In the tenth over Manjot also got out and Abhishek joined Shubman. Shubman completed his half century in the next ball and raised his bat in air. The entire crowd and his teammates applauded him and Abhishek hugged him. My happiness knew no bounds, I felt like crying seeing his performance but controlled my tears.

The last five overs were nightmare for the Australian bowlers with Shubman and Abhishek smashing almost every ball for boundary. Riya was squealing in delight and Aryan couldn't stop cheering for his favourite boys.

It is the final over with only two balls left, Shubman is on strike scoring 97*. Shubman flicked the ball to the off side and started running unaware that a fielder was there.

"NOOOOO!" Abhay screamed when Shubman reached half the pitch. Shubman ran back to striker's end when the fielder threw the ball towards the wicketkeeper. He dived to reach the pitch and the wicketkeeper pulled off the bails. The entire crowd silenced at once. Please no! This can't end here! It looked really close but the chances of Shubman's survival looked minimal. I closed my eyes and joined my hands and started​ praying.

"Omg yesss!" Riya screamed and I opened my eyes. She pointed at the big screen which showed 'Not out'.

"Thank God" I heavily sighed. I didn't want his splendid innings to have a terrible ending.

It's​ time for the final ball now. One can easily sense the tension in the ground. The entire crowd is slowly cheering for him. Shubman is still on 97*.

||Shubman||

"That was close" Abhay said coming towards me.

"I'm still shocked that I survived this one" I said.

"Final ball brother, you got this" Abhay said and we fist bumped.

Before taking the strike I took one look at the stands and I found her. Anya had a tensed face but I was confident. I closed my eyes and thought.

And I promise I'll make it a memorable one.

I opened my eyes and took the strike. The bowler came running towards me and threw the ball. I striked the ball really hard and sent it to the crowd. I took off the helmet and raised my bat in celebration. I looked up and thanked God for this innings.

I looked up in the stands and found Anya clapping and cheering for me along with Riya and Aryan. The feeling was surreal.

"I didn't let her down" I thought and smiled to myself.

"Bhaiii" Abhay came running towards me and hugged me. "I'm so proud of you" he said in my ear.

"Thanks bhai" I hugged him back.

We scored 210 runs at the end of 20 overs which I'm confident that we'll defend with the quality of bowling line up we have.

We went back to the dressing room and came back after twenty minutes.

"We got this one boys!" I cheered them and all of us went to our respective fielding position.

The batting effort from the Aussies was nothing what we expected. In the third over itself Kamlesh got rid off two Australian batsmen. In the fifth over Abhay got rid of their captain and we were in a dominant position with their team staggering at 22/3. Wickets kept falling and the match looked completely one sided. At the end of fifteenth over their score was 97/9 and from nowhere there were going to pull this off.

In the first ball of the sixteenth over the batsmen striked the ball high in the air and ran towards it and almost caught it near the boundary but it bounced from my hand but fortunately Abhay was just near me in the boundary and he caught it. I jumped on him with joy and started squealing. The entire crowd was applauding us as this was undoubtedly the most dominant performance from our side in recent time.

I received the 'Man of the match' award for my performance after the match and it's time for the dressing room celebrations now. Everyone in the room congratulated me.

"Bhai idhar aa na" Abhay called me and I went to him.

"Kya hua?" I questioned.

"I've a surprise. Look who's here" he smiled and shifted to reveal Anya behind him and I couldn't help but smile.

"Riya forcefully brought me here. I'm​sorry I shouldn't have come" she said.

"Why? I'm really happy to see you here" I tell her.

"Really?" She asked narrowing her brows.

"Really" I smile.

"Congratulations Shub. I'm so proud of you and your team" she said.

"Thanks, did you enjoy?" I asked her.

Before she could reply Manjot interrupted us.

"Anya!" He came and hugged her.

"Hey Manjot" she hugged her back.

"Baki teammates se nhi milwayega bhabhi ko?" He asked laughing.

"Abhi?" I asked.

"Toh aur kab" Manjot laughed and went to the centre of the room and announced, "Guys! Shub wants to you all to meet someone"

The next moment we had all eyes on us and I know Anya must be feeling really awkward right now but she'll get used to this in future.

"Hey guys, meet Anya. We're getting married soon" I said wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Hi everyone" she awkwardly smiled. Everyone came to us and shook hands with her. I introduced her to everyone including the support staff and everyone happily welcomed her.

"Time to cut the cake!" Rishabh announced and dragged me to cut the cake. I took the knife and cut it and was about to feed Rishabh who was standing beside me but he stopped me.

"Aaj bhabhi aayi hain toh first piece toh voh hi khayengi" he said and Riya pushed Anya forward.

I smiled and fed her the cake. She cut a small piece and fed it to me. I took little cream on my finger and applied it on her nose just to annoy her and she made a cute pout when I did that and I couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"Aw! You guys look so cute" Riya said clicking a picture of us.

All of us know what happens next. Everyone attacked me with the cake and I literally can't recognise myself. I'm used to such cake smashes so no big deal. Anya, Riya and Aryan couldn't stop laughing looking at my state.

I quickly went to wash my face and came back after two minutes. I found Aryan having a great time chit chatting with my teammates and Anya was talking to Riya and Abhay.

"Hey" I said approaching them.

"You guys talk, we'll be back" Abhay said and went somewhere with Riya.

"You didn't answer my question, did you enjoy?" I asked​.

"I enjoyed every moment of the match! Thank you" she smiled.

"I promised you I'll make this your best memory" I said.

"You did" she replied.

"Hey guys! I've an announcement to make" Abhay said clapping to gain everyone's attention.

"Kya hua bhai?" Prithvi asked.

"It's not just Shub who's getting married, Riya and I are getting married too. She said yes few days ago so I'm throwing a party tomorrow evening. Pata nhi hum sab ek saath Delhi mein next time kab honge and parso we've a flight to Mumbai so tomorrow is perfect" he announced.

Everyone started hooting hearing him and Riya was continuously blushing.

"You're coming right?" I asked Anya.

"Riya will kill me if I don't" she giggled.

"Can you pick me up and drop home Shub?" She asked. "If you don't have any problem" she added.

"Yeah sure, I'll pick you and drop you as well" I tell her.

"Actually mom will freak out if she finds out that I'll be returning home alone late night" she explained.

"I can understand" I said.

Tomorrow will be fun. I love spending time with her 'cause somehow she makes me forget all my sorrows. She's been a great friend to me and I want our bond to grow stronger.