The match had come right down to the wire.
Four balls left. Eight runs needed.
The opposition had tightened the bowling, and fielders were now strategically placed to cut off any boundary that might come off Pushpak’s bat. Singles weren’t an option—his partner was a tail-ender, unlikely to bring in the big shots.
Outside the electronics showroom at Brigade road, the crowd thickened and watched excitedly as Dilip Shastri continued his live commentary,
“The next ball, Salman to Pushpak, 2 runs, good length ball outside off, Pushpak belts it into the gap at long off and Sanjay has some ground to cover, some good running from tail ender Karthik.”
6 more runs to go and 3 balls left
“Peter to Pushpak, no run, tossed up delivery outside off, Pushpak shimmies down the track and gets beaten in the flight as he adjusts and smothers it to the off side”
2 balls left
Pushpak signaled for a timeout, sipping water. He wasn’t thirsty—he just needed a moment to clear his head.
A sudden roar erupted across the stadium, rolling like a wave. From the gallery came a chant, loud and unified:
“Pushpak! Pushpak! Pushpak!”
The cameras zoomed in on a group of girls waving a banner:
“Fly high, Pushpak, fly sky high… Nishi.”
Pushpak smiled when he saw Nishi on the big screen. He raised his bat in acknowledgment—it was exactly the spark he needed.
He signalled to the umpire that he was ready.
Everything else blurred away. He let his energy flow into the bat. The ball charged towards him.
“Peter to Pushpak, SIX, is that the biggest six hit ever? On a length and Pushpak gets stuck into that one, he’s middled that superbly, that’s out of the ground, out of the stadium, Peter has gifted him a length ball and that’s been smashed over the roof.”
“Looks like that banner from Nishi was just what the doctor had ordered” Shastri quipped.
(Back at the tea stall on Brigade Road, some of the spectators were confused. “Doctor? Who’s sick?” Panchimda patiently explained it was just a figure of speech).
Pushpak was ecstatic. His teammates rushed to lift him. Sahil was the first, hoisting him high.
As Sahil lowered him, Pushpak teased, “Sir, are you supposed to be doing that? Don’t you have a neck problem?”
“Nothing a surgery in Germany won’t fix,” Sahil winked.
Amidst the chaos, a whisper reached Pushpak: his six had landed on someone outside the stadium. The person was rushed to the hospital. Not to worry, he was assured—the Bengal Matadors would take care of any charges.
Back at home, Brijraj Patel nearly choked on his beer when he saw his daughter and her friends on live TV, cheering their lungs out for the cricketer.
He heard the BMW pulling into the garage, and He glanced at the clock: 10 PM. Too early for Rahul’s parties to be over.
When his son entered, Brijraj asked, “Do you know this chap Pushpak? Nishi and her friends seem to be cheering for him.”
“Well… I don’t know if Nishi knows him, but I’ve heard plenty from our peon. Our coach trains him. He’s supposed to be the next Bradman, or something,” Rahul replied casually before heading to his room. He’d had more excitement tonight than he cared for—sleep was overdue.
Meanwhile, the presentation ceremony was now on, and Dilip Shastri was on the dais with the guests of honour.
“And now we have the man of the match award. This young man gave an electric performance tonight. He really set the cat among the pigeons. He is Pushpak Shinde or should we say Pushpak Viman.”
The crowd was going berserk with excitement as Pushpak came forward and collected his award.
“So Pushpak before you leave a few words from you. How did it feel to play your maiden match for the Bengal Matadors?” asked Shastri
“I was just a local boy who played gully cricket. All I knew was I loved the game. But people like Panchimda, my coach and Nishi made me realize that it was more than love—it was my dream.. I thank all of them and I thank my Ma and my Babuji for their blessings. And—well, I don’t know if I can say this on live TV, but I’ll risk it… Nishi, thank you for coming into my life. I hope you’ll stay in it till death do us apart.”
The stadium erupted in applause. Nishi blushed—yes, it was cheesy, but being proposed to on national television was thrilling beyond words.
Watching his daughter get proposed on national television was not something an old school fellow like Brijraj Patel could digest. Well at least her investment has been worth it thought Brijraj Patel, a cricketer for a son-in-law was not bad at all, not bad at all.
Back in the factory, Papaji’s eyes welled up, Lambu tried to console him.
““Didn’t know you were such a romantic, Papaji,” he said.
“Romantic, my foot! You dumbass—I had my bets on the other team,” Papaji snapped.
Back at Brigade Road, Panchimda’s café was now bustling with customers. People wanted to know about Pushpak and the mood was truly celebratory.
“Tea on the house! Pushpak’s maiden victory deserves a treat!” Panchimda shouted. He would need more tea and sugar, so he reached out for the box of supplies on his cycle.
Wait, what was that? He did not remember putting a kit in his box. He gently opened the kit and upon seeing its contents shut the box and stepped back.
He wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
“Sorry everyone, I have an emergency” he blurted, hopping onto his cycle and pedaling away. He knew exactly where to go.
After half an hour of furious pedaling, he arrived at the Brigade Police Station.He stepped cautiously inside and tried to wake up the snoring constable.
“Sir, sir, can I see the sub inspector” he asked gently
“Wait here” scowled the constable, he did not seem too happy about Panchimda interrupting his slumber.
The constable went in and knocked on his superior’s office door. “Pandey sir, there is a man outside, says he wants to see you”
“Alright, send him in.”
“You can go,” the constable told Panchimda, then returned promptly to his nap.
As Panchimda stepped into the office, Pandey looked up and having recognized his regular chaiwallah from Brigade Road, smiled “Panchimda, what happened? Any problem?”
Panchimda showed the kit to Pandey and explained how he had found it.
“You’re sure you’ve no idea who put it there?”
“No, sir. We were all too busy watching the match”
“Alright, sit down. I’ll take this to the evidence room. Be back in five minutes.” said Pandey as he took the kit from Panchimda
Back in the evidence room, he checked the serial number of couple of bundles against the list Brijraj had given him. His guess was right. This was the same money. He decided to follow Brijraj’s wishes, the bastard was in luck. He could get the money back to him without the hassles of the IT guys.
He went back to his office where a nervous Panchimda waited impatiently.
“Panchimda, you are in luck. This money was reported stolen by my friend today. He offered a 10% reward to whoever found it. Do you know what that means?”
Panchimda knew what it meant but just wasn’t able to believe it.
“It means you just got 30 lakhs as reward from the owner.”
Panchimda nearly had a heart attack. “Do I… do I have to sign anything?”
“No hassles. It’s a big amount, so I’ll drop you home tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll personally take you to ECECE Bank to deposit it safely.”
Panchimda could hardly believe his ears. All his dreams coming true in one night—it felt almost unreal.
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