KKR's first match in the 2018 season was against RCB; just as the team was dispersing after the last team meeting on the eve of the match, DK said, "Could you all wait a second, my sister wants to meet you, the whole team. She's a KKR fanatic," he added.

"Yeah, we did gather that from the Google meet the other day," said Robin wryly.

Shubman remembered that too, but he'd wondered then and wondered again now, why a Tamil girl would support KKR when Chennai itself had such a nice team.

He liked RCB best, himself.

RCB, with it's captain, his idol, his lifelong idol Virat Kohli. How he'd prayed during the auction RCB would take him.

No such luck.

He liked the KKR team members, though. The old ones like Robbie, Lynn, Narine and dre Russ (in spite of the latter's intimidating figure) had been very nice indeed to the youngsters. Among the newcomers, DK bhai was quite obviously the most good-hearted captain you could have. Nitish bhai seemed to always be on the lookout for mischief, but Shubman liked him. He seemed easygoing, and made awkward first meetings pleasant enough.

"Do you know you have a grease mark on your nose, Shubman?" he'd asked the first time they met.

Shubman raised a hand to his nose in alarm-they'd been photographed as they alighted from the bus, and he wouldn't want his first IPL photo to be something embarrassing. 

Why had Mavi and Koti not told him?

Shubman mumbled something inaudible.

"I was just kidding," said Nitish bhai with a wink.

"Oh!" said Shubman, too thrown off to give a better response.

"Hey, come on, me and Rinku were thinking of playing a round of Brawl Stars, you any good?"

As a matter of fact, Shubman was.

"And you two?" Nitish asked Mavi and Nagarkoti.

Nitish and Rinku had thus smoothly inducted the three Under 19 kids into their gang.

Shubman broke away from his thoughts when a tall girl with curly ponytails entered. She wore a violently purple shirt-a KKR themed merchandise, he saw, not the actual jersey. The actual jersey wasn't so purple. Or was it?

DK introduced her to the room. "My cousin sister Driksha. She's still in school," he added good humouredly.

Shubman deduced it was to prevent any of his teammates from hitting on her (in case they were planning to) because Driksha was rather pretty to look at, too, in spite of her glasses and questionable attire.

"I'm not still in school, I finished my Boards last week, remember?" Driksha whispered to DK.

"Well, you still have to pass them."

Everyone laughed at that, Driksha too, which broke the ice.

Shubman found it amusing to gaze at the girl as she proceeded to get everyone sign her autograph book. The first person she went to was Robbie, and she knelt down in front of him to touch his feet.

Robbie jumped back, flustered. "What-are you trying to do?"

"Thank you for 2014, Robbie bhai," she said.

"2014?" said Robbie, his alarm growing.

"Driksh, behave yourself," said DK, though he didn't sound angry. "No touching feet and stuff like that. Take the autographs and come along for dinner."

Robbie signed her copy, still looking baffled.

She went around to each of them, even a surprised Shubman. He hadn't expected himself to have to sign an autograph before playing a single match.

He wished Mavi and Koti hadn't left early...it would have been an interesting topic to discuss later on.

When she'd finally praised her old KKR players to her heart's content and taken everyone's autograph, the meeting in the common room finally broke up.

"You can't win a cup for KKR and not expect the fans to worship you a bit like god," DK pointed out to Robbie as they walked out.

Driksha giggled. Then she and Shubman tried to go through the door at the same time and almost bumped.

Shubman fell back quickly to let her pass and realized Driksha had done the same.

There was a pause.

Then Driksha spoke brightly. "You're the one who defeated Pakistan in the semi finals, aren't you?"

Shubman felt his face growing hot as he nodded, trying to find something clever to say. He didn't want them to walk out of the door and go separate ways.

"You are the girl who cut her hand on the blade the day of the auction, aren't you?" he managed, and was quite proud of himself.

"Yes, I am that girl," said Driksha with a grin. "But I prefer to be known as KKR's captain's sister. What do you prefer to be known as?"

"Oh-um-"

"Think about it. It's insightful," said Driksha.

Shubman was trying to come up with another clever retort when a lanky boy from the RCB camp (both teams boarding in the same hotel currently) came down the corridor. He tried to recall the name-he was sure he knew it, he'd seen him play in the 2016 Under 19 World Cup...

"Washi!" said Driksha, bounding up to him. "I was just about to call you."

"I was about to call you too," said Washi.

Ah, he remembered now, Washington Sundar. He'd played for U-19 India at the age of 16, one of the very few people to do so except Sir Jadeja. He was quite famous.

"Where have you been, mooning on the KKR team, too busy to drop in with a hi?" Washi asked.

"Aw, don't grouch," said Driksha, giving him a hug. It was a kind of hug that said they were really comfortable with each other. "You know the only people I love more than you is whoever plays for KKR."

"Indeed."

"Have you met Shubman? Shubman, have you met Washi? Both under 19 heroes, aren't you? Maybe that's what you two should be known as..."

Shubman had started to get a little dazed at the barrage of questions and remarks. He exchanged a smile with Washington nonetheless, wondering how Driksha knew him so well.

He didn't have to wonder for long, because Driksha, who seemed to have a tongue that never stayed still, told Shubman, "My bhaiya knows Washi really well cause they've played for Tamil Nadu for so long together. I did wish KKR would buy my best friend too!"

"You can't have everything in life," said Washi, "can you, now?"

"Hope you lose badly tomorrow," said Driksha, not very kindly. She turned to Shubman, eyes shining with wickedness. "Hope you win by a really, really big margin. It's good to have the good NRR right from the beginning of the tournament, you know."

"What are you two dawdling for, everyone's already gone for dinner-" DK's voice broke in. "Come along, Shubi, Driksha..." He ushered them ahead and fell in step with Washi. "Settling in fine?"

"Yes, DK bhai. Everyone in the RCB camp is really nice. Virat bhai is just brilliant."

"I know," said DK, grinning.

Shubman tried to fight down a burst of jealousy. 

It died anyway a moment later, because Driksha linked her arm with his and pulled him ahead. "I don't want to know how nice the RCB team is, do you? So did you think of what you'd like to be known as?"

They walked down to the dining room together, debating on the topic.