The untold

A story that depicts the other side of the life of a cricketer. We have all seen the fame from outside but what happens on the other end shall be revealed....

"Indian batsmen Aadi falls down from his No.1 ranking after three years!! The Board of Indian Cricket announces the new rankings" The news read as Aadi changed the channel in his television, while holding a glass of green tea on one hand. Aadi's life has completely changed over a year. Previously, he was that one happy go lucky guy in the team who was an inspiration to all his juniors. He had excellent batting skills and was considered the best captain the team had ever got in the past few decades. He was appreciated by legends across the world and created numerous unbreakable records in the sport. On top of that he had a number of prestigious laurels like the Bharat Ratna and Arjuna award under his name. He was considered the G.O.A.T by most around the globe. He had such a lovely family who showered their affection like anything on him.
But now nothing was with him. He had lost literally everything right from his name, fame, success
to family and friends he had lost everything. All of this seems like it had happened in a blink of an eye.
The cheerful guy has now turned to an extreme introvert who prefers to stay alone. He seems to be floating in an ocean of loneliness most of the time. But his loneliness is quite unique, as no one actually knows the reason behind it except for him. His family and friends tried to bring him out but nothing seemed to help. They tried every possible way to find out the reason but all in vain.
The reason for Aadi's loneliness dates back to a few months.
June 22nd 2019:
It was the D-day for Aadi to make an important decision in his life. They decided to meet at the St.Regis restaurant nearby. The restaurant had a really good ambience, soft lighting and English melodies playing through the ceiling, well in short A perfect place for a date, but Aadi had come here for a completely different reason but with the same person with whom he had come on a date a few years back...the love of his life, Dia. She insisted that they sit in the corner most table of the restaurant, it was her favourite place to sit anytime she came here.
Aadi called the waiter to place an order.
"One plate of Primavera al panna and a glass of red wine please" Dia placed her order.
"Sir, your order?" The waiter asked.
Aadi was confused on what to eat, since morning he hasn't been able to digest stuff worrying about the shortcomings of his decision. Dia gave an immediate stern look leaving him with no choice.
"Sir..?" The waiter again asked.
"One plate Arrabiata" he replied, staring at the never ending menu card.
As soon as the waiter had left, "But that's not even what you usually eat" Dia enquired, confused with his sudden change of taste.
"Yes it was but I liked it after I had eaten it once at Apu's place" he replied nonchalantly.
"Pchh… again her tales can you for once stop talking about her when we meet. It's always about Aparna !" Dia was obviously pissed off.
Even after four long years of dating, Aadi still couldn't figure out the reason for Dia's hatred towards Aparna.
Aparna was his bestest friend right from his childhood. She had stood with him through his thick and thin and had been a great support when he needed someone the most. She has been a family for him and been a part of his life ever since he was four. She was such a sweetheart who never thought anything wrong even for her enemies… so he really couldn't understand why Dia hated her.
Coming back to the present, the waiter served them two plates of steaming hot pastas and a glass of wine for Dia and left the table.
Aadi kept silent as soon as Dia got pissed off so as to reduce the tension around the place.
He wished that this silence continued atleast till they finished eating.
But maybe god is just not ready to listen to him.
As soon as he placed the fork on his plate, Dia began to talk,taking a sip of wine from the glass.
"So.." She asked.
"So..?" he asked again though knowing what she is talking about.
"I really hope you know why we have come here, right?" She replied in a quick fashion keeping a straight face with absolutely no reaction.
He countered with a yes in a swift.
Then there was a moment of silence. It was so iced that we could distinctly hear the ticking of the clock and the tapping of the heels.
He did not know how to start off, he was rather scared and at the same time confused whether he was doing the right thing.
He took a sip of water, a deep breath and started "Dia.. listen I really don't know from where this actually started, you are as important to me as my career. Both you and my sport are and will always be on the top of my priority list".
" Listen I really don't have time to listen to your dumb explanations" she responded with a stern look. " Fine, you said about me and cricket...what about your Aparna? Isn't she important to you."
He just stared at her.
He did not know how to respond to this.
"Yes she is important…"
"Fine then you have told your decision, now it's time for me to tell" she replied, not allowing him to continue further.
"But…" he began again hesitantly.
"There are no ifs and buts here Aadi.."
He thought she would continue but no, again a moment of silence.
He knew he had just blurted out something that could cost much in life but at the same time he knew he said what was true, he could never lie to his princess.
Dia picked the glass and finished the last sip of the wine and paused, Aadi assumed that now she is going to definitely speak but yet again she kept mum. "Check." She called for the waiter.
It was almost eleven in the night, they had spent almost two solid hours in the restaurant. It was closing time and still Dia kept him waiting till the last moment.
He did not understand what this silence of hers meant.
She stood up and signalled him to follow her behind.
There they stood just outside the restaurant on the pavement, it was pitch dark, not a soul on the streets and rains heavily pouring still Dia chose to stand in this and speak her heart out. Aadi had millions of thoughts running in his mind because of this sudden silence of Dia's.
She took a heavy breath.
Both of them looked at each other in their eyes.
"It's all over Aadi… I mean nothing to you anymore. I wished that atleast today your decision would be in my favour but no, you chose to be selfish and take your own stands." She spoke out without a gap.
He couldn't believe his ears, all his love that he had showered on her over these years were all gone in a blink of an eye.
"If you were wondering why, the reason is within you" she spoke again, reading his confused face.
She hugged him tight for the last time and walked off, leaving Aadi drenched in a world of unanswered questions.
Not many knew about this story except Aadi’s teammate and best friend Dharshan. He is known to have a heart of gold and is almost as important as Aparna to Aadi. He always stood by Aadi and they both were like partners in crime.
This very incident had affected Aadi to a large extent. The guy who was known for his excellent shot selection and the way of chasing targets that seemed impossible, now couldn’t even hit a proper boundary with ease, it seemed to come only if luck favoured him. All of his rankings and stats had gone down in waters. The media who were once in all praises about him were now criticising him to a very personal extent. He couldn’t show his face even to his own family, he seemed to have gone under extreme depression from which no one could actually bring him out. Dharshan tried his level best to cheer him up, but nothing seemed to be working.
Almost a year had passed but Aadi just seemed to be beating around the bush. Nothing could break the burden in his heart. After a year of dethronement as a captain, the BIC decided to give him another chance and designated him as the captain for the World Cup. "Knock, knock", the room service knocked on Room number 1184. The Indian cricket team captain Aadi stayed in this room. The team has been staying in the Taj hotel for the past two weeks, in accordance with the schedule of their World Cup match against Australia at Bangalore.
"Knock, Knock" the room service knocked again holding a tray with boiling hot green tea and some freshly baked cookies for the captain. There was no response from the other side at least for five minutes, then there was a very soft shuffling of feet, and the person rotated the knob in quite an irritated fashion. The door opened and there stood a guy almost 5'10", heavily muscled in his very loose t-shirt and boxers. The waiter for a moment got overwhelmed and thought he had his fan moment.
Aadi kept staring and,
"What do you want? Why do you keep knocking on the door?" Aadi screamed at the waiter for no reason. The waiter was way too scared to even respond. Aadi continued to give a stern look and pushed the kettle of tea down. Startled by hearing the noise, all the team members came out of their rooms and stood outside his room.
"Just get out of my sight!!" Aadi screamed again.
The waiter lifted the kettle and rushed towards the lift without even turning his head.
Dharshan got pissed off seeing this whole scene and pushed him inside the room.
"Enough Aadi! We have had enough of this s****y side of yours…." Dharshan screamed at the top of his voice. He was indeed irritated with his friend's behaviour and at the same time couldn't see him behave in such a rude manner.
Dharshan requested his teammates to leave the room for sometime so that he could have some personal talk with Aadi.
"Dude, for how long are you going to continue to behave in this way… it's almost been a year since she left you and you still continue to think about her and her so called dumb statement she told"
"Do you realise you are not just hurting yourself but also all of us around you?"
" I said I shall call Aparna but you said no to that as well, what else do you expect us to do? She is the only solution to your question dude"
Aadi stayed silent and just kept staring at him throughout. He did not know whether he had to respond or not, he just seemed blank.
He felt as if he had been again pushed to the same situation as the one that happened a year ago where he failed. He had a millions of thoughts in his mind and it seemed as if his ears had just shut itself, he really couldn't get what Dharsh seemed to be telling.
After almost ten minutes, when Dharshan decided to leave, Aadi opened up.
"How do you expect me to call Aparna? She has her own work to do, how long can I expect her to come for me and my own set of issues?"
Dharshan was happy that his friend finally opened up but at the same time was taken aback with what he said.
"Isn't she your best friend or more say like your family? Why wouldn't she come? Did you even try telling her about this?" Dharshan asked in a swift.
"She is, but for how long can I keep troubling her ?" He responded.
"For as long as I'm alive!" Came a sweet voice of a girl from the door of his room. Aadi quickly recognised the voice and stood up spontaneously and looked at the door.
There she was, a girl in her late twenties stood like an angel. She was wearing a plain white kurti and matching silver jhumkas. Her long tresses were all pinned behind with just a few strands falling over her face. She has changed a lot since he last saw her two years back. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds. Now, in addition to that she was red in anger. She slammed the door behind, and walked forward towards Aadi keeping a stern face.
"How could you even think I wouldn't come for you?"
She spoke in an irritated tone.
" You have been there when I needed you the most right?" She continued.
"Yes" he responded.
"So obviously I was going to be there na".
Dharshan decided to leave them both to talk and left the room. There was complete silence in the room for almost two hours. It was almost noon and Dharshan decided to call them both for lunch and came into the room.
"I promise that everything will be back to normal, all you need to do is try to believe that everything is normal" Aparna was advising while Aadi was all in tears. It was quite an emotional situation in the room.
"Bhaiya, thank you for taking care of him when I wasn't there, if it wasn't for you he would have been in an even more worse situation" she said as soon as she saw Dharshan.
On enquiring on how she had reached the hotel,
" I have actually been appointed as the outreach head for the team for this World Cup. I thought I shall surprise this guy here and had come to his room as soon as I reached this hotel" Aparna responded.
They soon left for lunch.
Weeks that continued, saw quite a significant change in Aadi's behaviour, he seemed to have been recovering from the rough patch. He began to mingle again with his teammates like he used to. Amidst all her work, Aparna spent the rest of her time with Aadi. They shared quite a lot of quality time together. He realised that he was happy around her and she really brought some sort of positive vibe inside him. He began to be himself after a very long time. He started to own the leadership like he used to, seeing all of this changes his teammates were very much happy that their captain was back.
The World Cup had begun and the team were at their best. When no one had expected that the team would even qualify, they created numerous records and won every match right from the practice match till the quarter final. They marched into the semi finals like an emperor. The dressing room was in all joy after a long time. Aadi was the leading run scorer of the tournament, life just couldn't get any better. One day, during a break in their training, Dharshan just ran towards Aadi and hugged him tightly. Aadi was surprised and just looked at him, Dharsh smiled and said "Aadi you are back!". There were tears of joy in his eyes when he said that. Aadi was taken aback with how much happiness he could bring in his loved ones with this little change of his. He knew who was the reason for all of this, Aparna.
He couldn't just thank her for doing all of this. She has played a huge role in bringing back the real him.
He decided to thank her by taking her out for dinner and asked her where she would like to go,
"St.Regis" she said even without looking up. He froze for a moment and then looked at her
"Are you sure you want to go there?" He asked again.
"Yes, I do" she replied
"I'm Aparna, not Dia" she continued after looking at his confused face and just gave a smile. That smile was enough to assure him that nothing wrong was going to happen.
They had quite a joyful dinner, and with all smiles they came out of the restaurant. Just as Aadi turned to call the driver, Aparna held his hand.
" Aadi, tomorrow is the very first world cup match you are going to play after all that has happened. Tomorrow is like a real test for you, not just professionally but also personally to prove that you are over everything that you have passed. Tomorrow you get to prove to the world that you are back".
Aadi just smiled and hugged her. He was finally happy. He had turned a new leaf and was waiting for this new beginning.
The next day, the locker room was all bustling. Players were getting prepped up for the match with all confidence and nervousness in equal measures. It was a very important day in all their lives. They are carrying literally the hopes of all the Indians across the world, it's time to prove that they are the best. Added to that Aadi had an extra responsibility, it was Aparna's birthday, he had to give her a good present. To the player's surprise, all of their families had turned up for the match, they came to know that Aparna had planned for all of this.
"It's your big day guys, and I really feel that they are the real audience for this match." Aparna said with all smiles.
But it did not just stop with this, another shock came as a complement. It was rather a shock than a surprise, Aparna had invited Dia as well for the match, Dia was married now to an IT official from the States. When Aadi met her, she created a sorry figure but he wasn't ready to forget whatever she had done in the past, but with a smile he forgave her for the same.
It was the most anticipated match, the long term rivalry, India vs Pakistan at the Motera stadium, Ahmedabad. The Indian team won the toss and chose to field first. In the first innings, Indian team restricted their opponent to a below par total of 210 for eight wickets.
It was the turn for the team to chase down the target. The opponents were no less, they had world class bowlers on their side. The openers, Roshan and Shiv entered the pitch. The innings had quite a slow start, by the end of 10 overs they were 30 not out. The openers had performed to below their expectations. The required run rate was increasing steadily on one side. The match was going very slowly, the opponent had the match well in their control. By the end of 20 overs the Indian managed to put only 80 runs on board. The team were getting quite doubtful about their victory, to add on the pain three wickets fell in quick succession. It was now time for the captain to enter the pitch, he came in at 100-3 by the end of 30 overs. He had to successfully chase 111 runs in 120 balls, this might seem as an easy target to achieve but the way the bowlers seemed to be bowling it almost seemed like an impossible task.
Aadi gave a deep breath, and started batting. The very first ball he hit it for a six. The completely silent stadium suddenly burst into full on cheering for the captain. He batted as if he was in his career best, and kept hitting boundaries one after the other.
In no time, the team had to chase 6 runs with 20 balls remaining. Aadi had literally made this chase a cake walk. He also scored his 100th international fifty during this chase. He was now ready to face the next ball, Aadi closed his eyes for a moment and just time lapsed all the happenings, rejections and criticisms he had faced in his life over this one year. The crowd that booed at him in this very stadium a few months back is now cheering up as if he is the one who is going to fulfill their dreams of winning the very first World Cup for the country. He could hear the whole stadium cheering "Aadi, Aadi" , he was finally back. With all this happiness, he focused only on the ball and hit it for a six.
"Aadi hits it over the stadium!! India lift their very first World Cup, creating a remarkable history… It's party time in the dressing room! It's the Indian captain who has been spectacular in the night of the final!"
Commentator Prithivi Madhav expresses his joy in the mic.
Fire crackers were burst, the audience were jumping in joy as if they have won the World Cup, many could be seen in tears including the players of the team and Aadi. He couldn't express his happiness. He looked up at the dressing room just to see Aparna in tears of joy and satisfaction.
After certain protocols were done, it was time for the presentation ceremony.
"I welcome the Indian captain onto the dias to have a few words" anchor Vidushi called upon on the mic.
Aadi stepped forward with true pride and happiness.
" Congratulations on your victory, Aadi. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch you play on the pitch" the anchor remarked.
"You have been through a rough patch and now you have raised above limits like a flamingo, and brought an international victory to the country. What or Who has been the reason for such a turnover in you?" He further questioned.
The whole team and management knew the answer, it was obviously Aparna. But rather did they know they were going to get the biggest shock with his reply.
" It was actually one of my acquaintances who was the main reason for my turnover. Her name is Dia."
The team as well as Dia were in shock, but Aparna was smiling when he responded that way.
"She was the one who made me realise what mistake I was doing actually. She was my ex, when she left me she just said that the reason for her leaving is actually within me, then only I realised the mistake was that I wasn't being my natural self but rather putting on a mask to just to satisfy people around. That's when I decided to correct my mistake and here I am." Aadi replied with confidence. After making this Statement he turned and looked at Aparna and smiled. The statement was actually a detailed version of what she said to him " If you want to teach a lesson to someone, all you need to do is live happily before them and prove your worth".
He soon picked up the cup, and gave it to Dharshan and said "If not for you, I'm not here". They both turned back and posed for the group picture along with the team.

Author's Note

I’m just a learner out here. I would like to hear all of your positive as well as critical reviews so as to enhance my skills.