18th may, 2024.

9:56 am.

kasturie was anxious as hell. this could be their last match for the year if they lose. also it'll be the last match for mahi. last night she cried a lot. she can't imagine playing ipl without mahi. ever since she was bought by csk back in 2018, their bond became even stronger. he was with her through all her ups and downs in game.

sakshi and ziva were also there that day. finally, she gathered herself up and went out to have breakfast. as she went to the breakfast area, she found mahi, sakshi and ziva sitting on one table, talking and laughing happily. she smiled at them with a mere thought of having such family of her own. then again, she never got the love of her mother and because of that she thinks that she could never be a good mother for her child.

shaking away her thoughts, she walked towards the buffet breakfast table and got herself 3 dosas and sambar. then she moved to sit on one of the empty tables but then she heard sakshi calling out her name. "kasturie baccha, aaja humare saath baith nashta karne."

"arre no no, you enjoy your family time." she shook her head and replied.

"o nakhrel ladki, aaja idhar aake baith chup chaap. tu bhi family hi hai." mahi said.

"acha theeke theeke aayi." she smiled and walked towards them. she sat on a chair between mahi and ziva. she started eating her dosa but then she looked at mahi with a sad face. "I'm gonna miss you so much." she pouted.

"arre meri maa, maine abhi tak retirement announce nhi ki hai aur cricket se retirement le rha hu, duniya se nhi." mahi said. sakshi laughed at both of them.

"haso mat yaar sakshi bhabhi. iss saal mahi bhai ne captaincy merko dedi toh sahi but throughout the games he was with me to guide me through everything. but agle saal woh team mein hi nhi rhenge toh mera kya hoga. mahi bhai merko toh lag rha ki aapne galat insaan ke haath mein captaincy de di." she said sadly.

"teri yahi ek aadat kharab hai. self doubt. baki sab ekdam perfect hai. bas yeh aadat chali gyi ek baar toh you can be the best captain ever. aise toh tu jab international tournaments lead karegi tab trophies humare hi hone hai." mahi patted her back.

"ek insaan mein itna confidence, mahi bhai?" she questioned.

"don't worry kastu bui, you'll be the best captain, just like papa." ziva said looking at kasturie.

"better than papa." mahi said.

🕸️

4:37 pm.

both the teams were practicing on the field. on one side, kasturie was bowling balls at harsh and he was batting. on the other hand their opponent team was practicing on their own.

"so sorry guys, mujhe late hua." a girl wearing the rcb training outfit came running into the field. kasturie had just bowled a ball at harsh as the girl came in the field, harsh's focus diverted at her and the ball hit the stumps.

"wicket, let's go! kya kar rha hai yaar harsh zara focus badha game mein." she scolded harsh but he was busy looking at the girl from rcb. kasturie looked at the direction harsh was looking and smiled. "arre smritu, long time no see, huh?" she walked towards the girl to hug her.

"kaisi hai kastu?" she hugged back.

"main toh theek hu re." she said. harsh trailed behind kasturie like a lost puppy and whispered something into her ear. "oh yeah and smritu, this is harsh, mera bachpan ka dost aur harsh, this is smriti mandhana. pehchaante hoge na tum isko?" they shook each other's hands.

"huh? what?" they were busy looking into each other's eyes.

"uh nevermind, tum dono baat karo main paani peeke aati hu." with that kasturie walked away from them. "ajeeb log bhare pade hai zindagi mein."

🕸️

(a/n : people i won't write about the match in detail kyuki merko aalas aa rha hai. i will just mention a few key moments and directly skip to after match.)

7:49 pm.

csk won the toss and chose to bowl. the csk players huddled up before the game started. "people no one knows ki aaj hum jeetenge ya haarenge and as always, haaro yaa jeeto doesn't matter. what matters is that we gave our best. you all know what to do. you know the drill. so go out there and give your best. no matter what, in here, we all support each other. also, one more thing. yeh shayad apna last huddle for the year ho sakta hai so i want all of you to know that i love you all, you all are the best thing happened to me. I'm extremely glad to be a part of this family and thank you all for your support. bas itna hi kehna tha. let's go boys! ganpati bappa morya!" she ended her speech and all of them took their places on the field. the match began.

throughout the inning, rcb was batting beautifully. kasturie managed to take 2 wickets of patidar and maxi. they made a total of 218 runs. she became even more anxious. she took a deep breath and padded up to open the 2nd inning. her and rachin walked into the field. kasturie decided to be on strike. her mind was cloudy with fear and anxiety.

maxi was given the first over to bowl. he bowled the first ball and she shakily struck the ball lightly with her bat. the catch was taken. she felt like someone put their hand in her chest and ripped out her heart. she removed her helmet and looked at the crowd with a sad face. she felt like crying because she disappointed everyone. she walked out of the field, straight into the dressing room.

she went inside to change her clothes. in the end ahe lost control and she started crying. she thought she was not worthy of the captaincy, she thought she failed everyone, she failed mahi who trusted her blindly with the captaincy. after a while, she got into the training outfit and walked out of there after washing her face. with puffy and swollen eyes, she went straight to the dugout and sat on one of the chairs, hugging her legs.

people made fair scores but still it wasn't enough to win. in the end, mahi came out to bat. his start was slow but suddenly he hit a big 6 that went outside the stadium. the whole stadium went silent only the roars of csk fans was heard. people were anxious as hell.

csk lost the match.

rcb fans and the team started celebrating. on the other hand, the weather in the csk dressing room was gloomy. everyone was sad. not because they lost the match and were out of the game but because it was mahi's last match. still mahi was not saying anything about his retirement. but we all know how he randomly dropped a bomb on the whole world and announced his retirement from international forms of cricket.

🕸️

a/n : so i wrote this chapter last night but wasn't able to post it because wattpad didn't want me to. they said it was some error but it's fine. i posted it now. i had a hard time writing this chapter. i cried a lot on that day. i was depressed. but yeah I'm okay now (am i?). okay then.

peace out.
~k.