CHAPTER 71: THE WHISPER THAT BROKE THE DRAFT

Ball 73.No bowler appeared.

Just silence.

Then the pitch floor flickered — red grid lights, erratic wind, blinding overheads.

An error?

No.

The final stage of the test.Sudden stimulus overload.The delivery came mid-transition.

Barely visible.

Raj’s bat moved like a memory — not reaction, not instinct, but something deeper.

Impact point perfect.

Result: safe.

The system voice returned. Lower now.

"Thread Response Achieved."

By ball 80, the chamber’s oxygen dipped slightly.Simulated fatigue protocol.Raj’s knees trembled — not from exhaustion, but from controlled resilience.

His swing didn’t break.Didn’t flare.Just continued.

Ball 82 — flick to third.

Ball 83 — dot.

Ball 84 — late cut behind square.

Ball 85 — a leave. Beautiful, confident.

The trial wasn’t testing talent anymore.

It was testing who you are when the body starts forgetting but the will keeps stitching.

Then came Ball 89.Penultimate.A yorker.

No seam rotation.

Raj waited.Let it reach the very last instant.

Then clipped it with the outer edge of his toe, deadening the bounce.

It stopped five inches from the stump.Breath held.System said nothing.

He smiled.Because clarity didn’t come from results.It came from refusing to flinch.

Ball 90.Final ball.

The projection lagged.The crowd noise roared.Raj’s vision blurred for a full second.

Then snapped back.He didn’t see the bowler.Didn’t see the field.

But his flame?

It saw the path.One step forward.Straight bat.Connection clean.He didn’t know if it was four runs, six runs, or just survival.

He didn’t need to know.Because clarity wasn’t what you chased.It was what you became.

⟐ SYSTEM RECORD: CLARITY MATCH – COMPLETE ⟐

▸ Total Deliveries: 90

▸ Visual Disruptions Overcome: 87

▸ Error Rate: 2.1%

▸ Stress Marker: 71% (High-Endurance Band)

▸ Clarity Trait Recognized: Eyes That Never Blurred

→ Effect: Increases decision clarity under fatigue, chaos, and sensory manipulation

→ Bonus Passive: Resists mental fog during consecutive matches

—

As Raj exited the chamber, he didn’t collapse.Didn’t stretch.He just removed his gloves, stared at his fingers — shaking slightly — and whispered once to himself.

"Still stitched."

Outside, Spandana waited, eyes wide.

"How was it?"

Raj nodded once and said softly,

"Not clear. But clean."

Then walked past her.Toward the next thread.

The report landed on the desk with a soft chime.Not a thick file.Just one name, quietly ranked near the top of the draft pool:

RC-042 – Pavan Raj

Status: Flame-Ranked

Traits: Silent Flame, Tactical Thread, Eyes That Never Blurred

National Index Score: 97.6

Behavioral Index: A+

Disruption Tolerance: Tier-S

No fanfare.No PR coverage.Just numbers.

But they were too clean.

Too undeniable and that made certain people uncomfortable.

Inside the Selection Committee Hall — a glass-walled room at the heart of the campus facility — seven board members sat in silent review.

Five had been scouting popular names.

Two were building statistical arguments.

And one — a former cricketer turned political pick — leaned back, expression unreadable.

"RC-042 again?" he asked.

"Third time this week," replied the analytics lead. "Different trials, same dominance. But no media draw."

The room fell quiet.Because that was the problem.Pavan Raj wasn’t built for headlines.

He wasn’t loud.Didn’t posture.Didn’t sell easy.

But every metric?

Was bending around him.

Then the whisper came.One of the junior interns, speaking too close to an open mic during internal logging, said softly:

"If he keeps playing like this,They’ll have to bend the draft around him."

The system flagged it.But the phrase had already echoed.

By 3 p.m., the phrase reached the office of Director Nandan Varma — head of the Flamecraft Initiative.

He stared at the transcript and raised an eyebrow.Then picked up his personal tablet.

Searched: "RC-042 Highlights"

He found nothing on social media.But he found every internal match rating...

Flawless.

"Interesting," he muttered.Then made a single note in his private log:

"Whispered Flame.Doesn’t demand room.

Takes it anyway."

Meanwhile, Raj was on a side net — helping a junior bowler correct arm swing.

No cameras.No scoring.Just doing what captains do when no one is watching and that’s when he received a ping.

System alert — marked silent.

[!]

Special Selection Review Triggered.

Draft Committee has engaged override discussions involving your profile.

Prepare for alternate protocol match.

Raj stared at the system alert.

"Alternate protocol match?"

He’d never seen that phrase before.The system didn’t explain.It didn’t need to.Because this wasn’t about a match anymore.

It was about a decision storm building off-field.

Back in the committee room, debates ignited.

"He doesn’t give interviews," one member said.

"Doesn’t post. Doesn’t trend."

"Exactly," the analytics head countered. "He doesn’t distract either. Every score, every sync, every reaction time is textbook perfect."

"Perfect doesn’t sell," another argued. "Audiences want flair. Fire. Fight."

"He has fire," someone else replied. "You’re just used to seeing it on faces instead of threads."

The room fell silent again.Because beneath the arguments, one truth stitched deeper—

Raj wasn’t here to be marketable.He was here to be undeniable.

That night, at 7:42 p.m., Raj received a location pin from the system.No description.

No announcement.Just coordinates.

He followed it.It led him to an indoor pitch far from the main training facility — smaller, enclosed, dimly lit.

A woman stood near the net.Sharp eyes. No name tag.

But her posture?

Screamed authority.

"You’re RC-042," she said.

Raj nodded.

"You’re trending internally," she added. "And that scares people."

Still no reply.

She walked toward him.

"Tomorrow morning. You’ll play a non-broadcast match.

Opponent: State Vice-Captain.

Field: Full.

Umpires: Manual.

Conditions: Real."

She paused.

"Win, and you skip three draft rounds. Lose, and you drop five slots."

Raj tilted his head slightly.

"That’s not regulation," he said.

She smiled faintly.

"It is when they’re afraid of what silence might become."

Then she handed him a single match card.

On it?

Only one instruction:

"Do not prove them wrong.Prove them irrelevant."

The next morning, no official announcement was made.No team list posted.No draft schedule shift displayed.

But Pitch Delta-6 — a hidden ground behind the facility’s data complex — had two umpires already waiting.

And in the far corner of the dugout, Kairav Naresh — vice-captain of Telangana’s under-19 state team — was stretching, laughing with two teammates.

He didn’t know who he was playing yet and when Raj walked in — plain tracksuit, old gloves, no brand logos — Kairav raised an eyebrow.

"That’s the challenger?" he asked one of the staff.

The staff didn’t reply.Because even the staff didn’t know the full stakes.

But Kairav?

He assumed this was some private net trial.

So he played loose ,loud and Confident until the first over began.

Raj bowled.Not express pace.Not swing-heavy.Just relentless line.

Each delivery landed in the same six-inch square.

Ball 1: Dot.

Ball 2: Defensive tap.

Ball 3: Dot.

Ball 4: Leading edge.

Ball 5: Yorker. Beaten.

Ball 6: Dot.

The umpire glanced at the observer near the boundary.

She nodded.The test had begun.

Kairav’s smile faded.Not because he was losing.But because he realized something...

**This wasn’t practice.This was pressure — disguised in silence.**

⟐ SYSTEM RECORDING: UNOFFICIAL DRAFT OVERRIDE TRIAL ⟐

▸ Match Mode: Classified

▸ Opponent Rank: State-Level Vice-Captain

▸ Evaluation Scope: Composure Under Institutional Pressure

▸ Observer Notes Active

▸ Bonus Metric: Silent Disruption of Existing Hierarchies

By the third over, Kairav had scored only six runs.

And Raj?

He hadn’t spoken a word.Just adjusted the field gently after every two balls.

One step here.Two steps there.By the fifth over, a mistimed loft went straight to deep midwicket.

Caught.The umpire raised his finger.

Kairav stood for a moment longer than he needed to.Then walked off.

No words.No tantrum.

Just realization.He had walked into a storm he couldn’t hear coming.

The second half began without a break.Raj padded up quietly.No music.No coaching instructions.Just soft spikes tapping the pitch with every step.

Kairav, now fielding, crossed paths with him at the crease.He didn’t smirk.Didn’t taunt.

Just said, "I didn’t think you were real."

Raj didn’t reply.Because some truths weren’t meant to be spoken.They were stitched into motion.

The chase began with slow precision.

1 run.

2 runs.

Dot.

Leave.

Another leave.

Then a guide to third man.Kairav’s teammates whispered.

"He’s not even looking for shots."

But Raj was.Just not the kind they could see.

He wasn’t chasing runs.He was chasing threads.Pitch angles.Field gaps.Rhythm fractures and one by one, he pulled them.

By the 8th over, he had 31 off 29.No boundary.No flair.Just clean stitches.Then came the trap.

Off-spinner floated one wider.Slip crept in.

Mid-off charged.Raj looked away mid-delivery.

Baiting confusion.Then dropped the softest drive — a caress through cover.

Four.

No celebration.Just breath control.Reset.

Next over, short ball — pulled along the ground.

Two runs.

Next — slower one — defended late.

No risk.

Just rhythm.By the 12th over, he had 49.

One run away and the field pressed in.

Everyone up.Kairav himself took short cover.

Raj stepped out.Not aggressively.Just enough and lofted the gentlest chip over extra.

One bounce. Four.

Fifty.

Match.

Trial — complete.

He walked off before the umpire could raise a finger or the system chimed.Because he already knew.

This wasn’t a test of skill.It was a test of how deeply your flame could burn without ever trying to be seen.

⟐ SYSTEM UPDATE: DRAFT OVERRIDE TRIAL COMPLETE ⟐

▸ Opponent: Kairav Naresh

▸ Result: Win by 6 wickets

▸ Strategic Index: 97.8

▸ Scout Grade: Flame-Tier Confirmed

▸ Draft Rank Shift: Elevated to Priority 1 Consideration

▸ New Trait: Whispered Flame

 → Effect: Multiplies influence without media or attention dependency

 → Hidden Bonus: Nullifies Publicity-Based Pressure in Selection Arcs

That evening, back at the dorm, Raj received a second notification.No fanfare.

Just a file name:

"Draft Path – Broken Open."

And one sentence below:

"The system bent.Not because you shouted.But because you never needed to."

To be continued....