Date: August 31st, 2011.
Location: Old Trafford, Manchester.
Event: Only T20 International.
The red ball was packed away. The white ball was out. The whites were replaced by the bleeding blue jerseys. The mood at Old Trafford was festive, a stark contrast to the gloom of the Test matches.
But there was an undercurrent of nostalgia. Rahul Dravid, the quintessential Test batsman, the man who had stonewalled England for weeks, was making his T20 International debut. And simultaneously, playing his last T20 International.
It was a strange, poetic quirk of selection.
The Toss:
MS Dhoni, wearing the blue cap, spun the coin. Stuart Broad, the English T20 captain, called tails.
It was Heads.
Dhoni: "We will bat first. It looks like a good track. We want to put runs on the board and let our spinners defend it."
Team News:
"We have a debutant," Dhoni said with a rare, wide smile. "Rahul Dravid is playing."
Pre-Match Commentary (Nasser Hussain & Ravi Shastri):
Nasser: "Welcome to Manchester! It's loud, it's vibrant. But all eyes are on one man. Rahul Dravid. The Wall in a T20? It feels like seeing a Rolls-Royce at a drag race. Can he adapt?"
Shastri: "Never doubt class, Nass. He has the shots. But the crowd is also waiting for the young gun. Siddanth Deva. He had a quiet end to the Tests with the bat, but in this format? He is a beast."
Openers: Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane.
Bowler: Jade Dernbach.
The Indian openers started with intent. Rahane played classic drives, while Parthiv Patel, the pocket dynamo, took on the short ball.
Over 2: Parthiv pulled Bresnan for a six over square leg.
Over 4: Rahane stepped out and lofted Broad over cover.
The score raced to 39/0 in 4.3 overs.
Ball 4.4: Dernbach to Parthiv
Dernbach bowled a slower ball, the back-of-the-hand deception.
Parthiv was through the shot early. He chipped it straight to Kevin Pietersen at mid-on.
WICKET (Parthiv 10).
The crowd expected Siddanth Deva.
Instead, Rahul Dravid walked out at Number 3.
The stadium stood up. It was a mark of respect for the summer he had had.
Commentary (David Lloyd): "Here he is. The Wall. Look at the field settings. Broad has brought a slip in. They are treating this like a Test match."
Dravid took guard. He defended the first ball. Typical.
But then, something snapped.
Over 11: Samit Patel (Left-arm spin) to Dravid
Dravid was batting on 13. The score was 80/1.
10.1: Patel tossed it up.
Dravid cleared his front leg. He hit it straight back over the bowler's head.
SIX.
The crowd gasped.
10.2: Patel went flatter.
Dravid rocked back. He pulled it over mid-wicket.
SIX.
The crowd roared. "RA-HUL! RA-HUL!"
10.3: Patel panicked. Full toss.
Dravid swept. A slog sweep.
It sailed into the stands at square leg.
SIX.
Commentary (Shastri): "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! Three sixes in a row! From Rahul Dravid! He is dismantling the spinner! Who said he can't play T20? This is absolute class!"
Ball 11.4: Bopara to Dravid
Dravid tried to cut a wide one. He found Eoin Morgan at point.
WICKET (Dravid 31).
The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he walked back.
Score: 104/2.
With Dravid gone, the platform was set for the young guns. But the English bowlers tightened the screws.
Virat Kohli walked in.
Score: 104/2.
Over 13: Stuart Broad
12.3: Rahane tried to ramp Broad. He didn't have the pace. Easy catch for the keeper, Kieswetter.
WICKET (Rahane 61). A brilliant innings cut short.
Score: 106/3.
Rohit Sharma walked in.
12.5: Kohli faced Broad. He wanted to get off the mark with a boundary.
He drove on the up. The ball held in the surface.
Caught at short cover by Anderson.
WICKET (Kohli 4).
Score: 108/4.
The collapse was sudden and brutal. Three wickets for 4 runs.
India: 108/4 in 12.5 overs.
Enter The Devil.
Siddanth Deva walked out. The situation was familiar. A collapse. A crisis.
He met Rohit Sharma in the middle.
"Steady it, Ro," Deva said. "We have overs."
But Rohit was in a hurry.
Over 14: Swann to Rohit
13.6: Rohit stepped out. He tried to hit Swann out of Manchester.
He missed the turn. Stumped.
WICKET (Rohit 5).
Score: 117/5.
Overs Gone: 14.
Batsmen: Siddanth Deva and Suresh Raina.
India was in freefall. 117/5. 6 overs left. A score of 150 looked difficult.
Suresh Raina joined Deva.
"No more wickets," Deva said, his voice hard. "We run. We tap and run. We reset the pulse."
Over 15: Jade Dernbach
Deva and Raina played smart cricket.
Deva worked the angles. He used his [Eidetic Memory] to recall Dernbach's slower ball variations from the video analysis.
They ran four twos in the over.
9 runs.
Over 16: Ravi Bopara
Raina cut for four.
Deva drove for two.
They rotated the strike.
9 runs.
Score after 16 Overs: 135/5.
Deva: 14* (10 balls).
Raina: 8* (6 balls).
The platform was stabilized. Now, it was time for the explosion.
Deva walked to Raina. "12 runs an over minimum from here. I'm taking the aerial route."
Raina nodded. "I'm with you."
Bowler: Graeme Swann.
Striker: Siddanth Deva.
Deva adjusted his stance. Knees bent. Bat high.
16.1: Swann bowled flat on off stump.
Deva didn't move his feet. He just used his hands. He reverse-punched it over backward point.
The timing was surreal.
SIX.
Commentary (Bumble): "Oh my word! He hasn't moved his feet! Just wrists! That has gone ten rows back! The Devil has arrived!"
16.2: Swann went fuller.
Deva swept. But he swept it fine. Behind the keeper.
FOUR.
Commentary (Nasser Hussain): "Paddle sweep! He's played that so fine! Poor old Kieswetter didn't even move. Deva is toying with the field!"
16.3: Swann tried a faster one. Deva stepped out. He converted it into a full toss. He smashed it straight back. It shattered the camera glass on the sightscreen.
SIX.
Commentary (Shastri): "SMASHED! He's broken the glass! That wasn't a cricket shot, that was a statement! Straight back past the bowler. Swann is furious!"
16.4: Single.
16.5: Raina on strike. Raina slogged. He didn't time it. Caught at deep mid-wicket by Broad.
WICKET (Raina 12).
16.6:MS Dhoni walked in. He took a single first ball.
Runs in Over: 18.
Score: 153/6.
Over 18: Jade Dernbach Deva and Dhoni. The World Cup finishing pair.
17.1: Deva to face. Dernbach bowled a slower bouncer. Deva waited. He waited until the ball passed him. He ramped it. The 'Dilscoop' but finer.
FOUR.
Commentary (Bumble): "Cheeky! Very cheeky! The fine leg was up, and he helps it on its way. The audacity of youth! Dernbach doesn't know where to look!"
17.2: Deva stepped across to off. Dernbach followed him. Deva flicked it from outside off to square leg. The wrists of steel.
SIX.
Commentary (Sourav Ganguly): "Oh, those wrists! That is VVS Laxman with power! Picked it up from outside off and deposited it into the stands at square leg. Unbelievable hitting!"
17.3: Single.
17.4: Dhoni on strike. He smashed a boundary through covers.
17 runs off the over.
Score: 170/6.
Over 19: Stuart Broad Broad was angry. He bowled fast.
18.1: Deva on strike. Broad bowled a yorker. Deva turned it into a low full toss by stepping out. He sliced it over point.
SIX.
Commentary (Nasser Hussain): "Carved! That is a slice of genius! Broad bowls the yorker, Deva turns it into a full toss and sends it over point. You cannot set a field for that!"
18.2: Bouncer. Deva hooked. Flat.
FOUR.
Commentary (Shastri): "Short ball, punished! He was waiting for it. Quick hands, rocks back, and dismisses it to the mid-wicket fence. Broad is running out of ideas!"
18.3: Deva took a single.
18.4: Dhoni hit a massive six over long-on. Classic helicopter whip.
19 runs off the over.
Score: 189/6.
Over 20: Tim Bresnan Deva was on 48. Dhoni on 18.
19.1: Dhoni on strike. Bresnan bowled wide.
Wide.
19.1: Dhoni hit hard to long-off. Two runs. Deva ran like a cheetah.
19.2: Dhoni swung and missed.
Dot.
19.3: Dhoni took a single.
Score: 193.
19.4: Deva on strike. He needed 2 for his fifty. Bresnan bowled a perfect yorker on the middle. Deva jammed it out.
Dot.
Deva cursed.
19.5: Bresnan tried the yorker again. Deva anticipated. He moved deep in the crease. He converted it into a half-volley. He lofted it over extra cover.
FOUR.
Fifty for Siddanth Deva. (24 balls).
Commentary (Sunil Gavaskar): "Fifty for Siddanth Deva! And he brings it up with style! Lofted over extra cover, one bounce into the ropes. 24 balls! He has changed the complexion of this game single-handedly!"
Score: 197/6.
19.6: The Final Ball. Deva on strike. He wanted 200. He wanted 203.
Bresnan ran in. The crowd at Old Trafford was screaming. Bresnan bowled a slow bouncer. A cutter into the pitch. It sat up.
Deva saw it. [Skill: Predator's Focus] He didn't pull. He didn't hook. He stood tall. He played a tennis smash. Straight back past the bowler.
The ball flew. It kept rising. It sailed over the sightscreen. It sailed over the media center. It was a monster hit.
SIX.
Final Score: India 203/6.
Commentary (Ravi Shastri): "THAT IS HUGE! THAT IS OUT OF THE GROUND! Siddanth Deva finishes it with a monster six! 56 not out off just 26 balls! He has destroyed the English attack in the death overs! From 117/5 to 203! What a recovery! What a player!"
Deva punched the air. Dhoni walked up and hugged him.
"You enjoyed that," Dhoni laughed.
"I needed that," Deva grinned, sweat dripping from his nose. "Test cricket was too quiet."
---
Location: Krithika's Living Room, Secunderabad.
Time: 12:05 AM IST.
The television bathed the dark living room in a blue glow. Krithika sat cross-legged on the sofa, clutching a cushion to her chest. Her parents had long since gone to bed, but she was wide awake, her heart pounding against her ribs.
On the screen, Siddanth Deva had just reverse-punched Graeme Swann for six without moving his feet.
"Yes! Yes!" Krithika screamed, jumping off the sofa. She muffled her own shout with her hand, remembering her sleeping parents. She pointed at the TV screen. "Take that, Swann! Spin that, you bald genius!"
She grabbed her phone and typed furiously to 'Siddarth Reddy'.
OMG!!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT?? He didn't even move his feet!
The match moved to the final over. Deva was on 48.
"Come on, Deva. Get the fifty," she whispered, bouncing on her toes.
Bresnan bowled the yorker. Deva jammed it out.
"No!" Krithika groaned, falling back onto the cushions. "Don't bowl yorkers! Bowl rubbish!"
Next ball. Deva moved. Lofted drive. Four runs. Fifty.
Krithika leaped up again. She ran to the TV. She kissed her fingertips and pressed them against the screen right over Deva's face.
"I love you!" she shouted at the pixels. "I literally love you! You beautiful man!"
Then came the final ball. The tennis smash. The monster six.
Krithika stood frozen. Her mouth was open. The ball disappeared over the sightscreen. The camera zoomed in on Deva's face—sweaty, intense, triumphant. He punched the air.
Krithika felt a rush of adrenaline so pure it was dizzying. She threw her hands up.
"I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!"
She screamed it at the ceiling. She didn't care about the neighbors. She didn't care about her parents. She blew a flurry of flying kisses at the TV screen, aiming them at the man in the blue jersey who was currently hugging MS Dhoni.
She collapsed back onto the sofa, grabbing her phone. She needed to tell someone. She needed to tell 'Siddarth' that he was an idiot for missing this.
---
Back in the dressing room, the mood was ecstatic. Rahul Dravid was being applauded for his cameo, and Deva was being iced down by the physio.
Deva grabbed his phone from his locker. He saw 15 unread messages from Headache. He opened them, scrolling up to read them chronologically. It was a play-by-play reaction from a fan who had no idea she was texting the player she was watching.
[11:30 PM - During the Collapse]
Headache:I hate this team. I literally hate them. 108 for 4? Are they sleeping? Even I could bat better than Rohit Sharma today. 😤
Headache:Siddarth, are you watching? Tell me you are not sleeping. This is a disaster.
[11:45 PM - Deva walks out]
Headache:Okay. He is here. The Devil. If he gets out, I am breaking my TV. Seriously.
Headache:Look at his walk. So arrogant. I love it.
[12:05 AM ]
Headache:OMG!!!!! 😱😱😱
Headache:DID YOU SEE THAT?? He didn't even move his feet! He just slapped Swann for six! That is physics-defying!
Headache:Siddarth! Reply! Are you dead? How are you not screaming right now?!
[12:15 AM - The Final Over]
Headache:50! Fifty for Deva! Look at him! He is sweating, but he looks like a model. 😍
Headache:SIX! SIX! 203! WE CROSSED 200!
Headache:That final shot was illegal. That should be banned. He smashed it!
[12:20 AM - Post Match]
Headache:My throat hurts from screaming. What a player. Seriously. What. A. Player.
Headache:You are the worst friend ever. You missed the best innings of the summer. I am celebrating with ice cream.
Deva chuckled, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard. The irony was delicious. She was praising his "swag" while insulting his alter ego for being boring.
He typed a reply.
Me:I was... busy. Signal issues in the village. But I heard he played well.
Headache:'Played well'? He destroyed them!
Deva laughed, locking his phone.
"Who's the girl, Sid?" Yuvraj Singh asked, walking past with a towel. "You're smiling too much."
"Just a critic, Yuvi paaji," Deva said, standing up. "My biggest critic."
Deva drank his recovery shake. The job was half done. Now, he had to bowl.
----
Target: 204. Conditions: Cold, under lights.
MS Dhoni gathered the team. "203 is good. But Hales and Kieswetter will come hard. We bowl tight lines. Sid, you take the new ball."
Deva walked to his mark. He felt the cold Manchester air bite his skin. He loved it.
Over 1: Siddanth Deva to Alex Hales
0.1: Deva ran in. Pure speed. 148 kmph. Outswinger. Hales played and missed. Dot.
0.2: Deva adjusted. He went fuller. He aimed for the top of off stump. Hales, trying to force the pace early, cleared his front leg to hit over mid-on. The ball moved late. It took the inside edge. It crashed into the pads, then deflected onto the stumps. CLATTER.
Commentary (Nasser Hussain): "BOWLED HIM! Deva strikes in the first over! Alex Hales is gone for a duck! What a start for India! Deva with the bat, now Deva with the ball! He is having a night to remember!"
WICKET (Hales 0).
Score: 1/1.
Kevin Pietersen walked out. The Chepauk nemesis.
Pietersen and Craig Kieswetter decided to fight fire with fire. They targeted Munaf Patel and R. Ashwin in the Powerplay. KP hit Ashwin for two huge sixes. Kieswetter ramped Munaf.
They raced to 58/1 in 6 overs. The game was on.
Over 7: Ashwin to Kieswetter6.1: Kieswetter tried to sweep. Top edge. Caught at short fine leg.
WICKET (Kieswetter 32).
Over 8: Virat Kohli (Part-time seam) Dhoni threw the ball to Kohli for a change of pace.
7.1: Kohli to Pietersen. Wide half-volley. KP drove. Straight to point.
Rohit Sharma dived forward.
WICKET (Pietersen 28). KP was furious. Getting out to Kohli's medium pace was an insult.
Score: 61/3. England had lost their top 3.
Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara joined forces. Morgan was dangerous. He played the reverse sweep. He played the paddle. They rebuilt the innings. They took the score to 120/3 in 14 overs. Required Rate: 14 runs per over. Tough, but possible with Morgan on strike.
Morgan reached his 50. He looked set to take the game deep.
Dhoni brought his strike weapon back.
15.1: Deva to Morgan. Morgan shuffled across, looking for the scoop. Deva saw it. He bowled a slower bouncer. The knuckleball bouncer. Morgan was through the shot. He was expecting pace. The ball arrived late. It hit the toe end of the bat. It lobbed gently to MS Dhoni.
Commentary (Shastri): "The Slower One! Deva outsmarts Morgan! That is the wicket India wanted! Eoin Morgan goes for a well-played 52, but Deva has the last laugh! England 134 for 4! The chase is derailing!"
WICKET (Morgan 52).
With Morgan gone, the English lower order panicked.
Over 17:Vinay Kumar removed Bopara (Caught deep cover).
Over 18:Siddanth Deva yorked Samit Patel.
Over 19:R. Ashwin cleaned up the tail. Broad stumped. Swann caught long-on.
Final Over: England needed 25 runs. 1 wicket in hand.
Jade Dernbach run out.
England All Out: 187. (Overs: 19.3).
India Won by 16 runs.
Commentary (David Lloyd): "A comprehensive victory for India! They posted 203 thanks to Deva's brilliance, and despite a fight from Morgan and KP, the Indian bowlers held their nerve. The Wall says goodbye to T20s with a win. But the night belongs to the young man, Siddanth Deva."
Post-Match Presentation:
Ravi Shastri: "Man of the Match. 56* off 26 balls. 2 wickets for 28 runs. Siddanth Deva."
Deva walked up. He looked at Dravid. "This is for Jammy bhai," Deva said. "A legend deserves a winning farewell."
Dravid smiled from the back, waving.
---
A/N: Check Out My new Fanfics
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