CHAPTER 46: THE ECHO

Chapter 46: The Echo

The Kamrup team was a single, roaring, blue-and-white entity, a mob of ecstatic 13-year-olds who had just witnessed a miracle. They were pounding Raghav on the back, grabbing his head, his shoulders, their voices a chaotic chorus of "What was that?!" and "You’re a magician!"

Raghav, at the center of the storm, just tried to breathe.

His face was pale, his entire right arm a dead, heavy thing that hung at his side, screaming with a pain so deep it felt like it was in his bones. He felt the system’s reward (+50 SP) as a tiny, insignificant drop of warmth in a cold ocean of agony.

He had done it. But the cost was immense.

The celebration broke as the umpire, his face impassive, reset the stumps for the third time. The two new Sivasagar batsmen, Romen and the new man, Pawan, were now at the crease. They were just... there. They looked like ghosts. Their two set, "scrapper" captains—the soul of their team—had been surgically, impossibly, removed in the space of three balls.

Raghav, his moment of triumph over, began the long, painful walk back to his new fielding position. His elation was gone, replaced by the cold, analytical reality of his physical state.

’One over. That’s all I had.’ His mind, seasoned by a lifetime of understanding limits, was blunt. ’That was it. The arm is done.’

Rohan, the captain, jogged alongside him, his face still flushed with adrenaline and shock.

"That was... that was unbelievable, Raghav," Rohan panted, his eyes wide with a new, profound respect. "Can you... can you bowl another one? Can you finish them?"

Raghav looked at his captain. He showed his exhaustion. He didn’t need to fake it. His face was slick with a cold sweat.

"I need... a few overs, Captain," Raghav said, his voice a low, ragged breath. He couldn’t admit he was broken. "My arm... it’s just a little tight."

Rohan, a smart captain, saw it instantly. He saw the paleness. He saw the way Raghav was protecting the arm, cradling it against his chest as he walked. He wasn’t just "tight." He was spent.

"Right," Rohan said, his voice instantly becoming professional. He was showing his leadership. "Right. You’re done. Go to Fine Leg. Rest. Do not... do not even look at a ball."

Raghav just nodded, grateful.

As he jogged, slowly, to the furthest, safest position on the field, he passed Coach Sarma, who was standing at the edge of the 30-yard circle, his arms crossed.

Sarma didn’t look at the field. He looked at Raghav.

Their eyes met. Sarma saw the boy’s pain, the exhaustion, the price of the magic trick.

"Go," Sarma grunted, his voice too low for anyone else to hear. "You’re done. Go stand in the shade. Do not throw with that arm. Do not. That’s an order."

It was the closest the coach would ever come to saying "Good job," or "Thank you." He was protecting his new, fragile, devastating asset.

Raghav nodded. "Yes, Coach."

He took his place at Fine Leg, a solitary blue figure in the deep, his body screaming, his work finished.

But the game wasn’t finished.

Sarma signaled to Sahil, the medium-pace In-swinger. "You’re back on. Finish what he started."

Sahil grabbed the ball, his face lit with a rabid, newfound confidence.

This was the "Echo Effect."

Raghav, from 150 yards away, watched the new batsman, Romen, take his stance. The boy was terrified. He was showing it. His feet were moving, a nervous, rabbit-like dance. His eyes weren’t watching Sahil. They were darting around, at the Gully, at the Short Leg, at the keeper. He was expecting an attack from all angles. He was expecting the "boogeyman" ball.

His mind was poisoned.

[Ball 8.1]

Sahil, his chest puffed out, ran in. He was not a "trick" bowler. He was a "swing" bowler. He delivered his stock ball: a simple, Good Length In-swinger. It started on Off-Stump and moved back in.

Romen, the batsman, was paralyzed.

His mind was screaming at him: ’The ball from the new kid... it moved IN! This one is moving IN! It’s the same! It’s the same!’

He was caught in a loop of pure, unadulterated terror. He was so afraid of the Cutter that he didn’t even see the In-swinger.

He was expecting a trick. He was expecting magic.

He was not expecting a simple, textbook delivery.

He froze.

He didn’t play a shot. He didn’t block. He didn’t move his feet.

He just stood there as the ball, moving in a gentle, predictable arc, passed his bat, passed his pad...

CLACK.

It hit the Middle Stump.

He was Bowled.

The stump cartwheeled back.

[Score: 35/3. Overs: 8.1]

For a second, the Kamrup team was just... stunned. They had been bracing for a new fight.

And the fight had ended before it began.

Aakash, the keeper, was the first to react. He just... started laughing. A high-pitched, hysterical laugh of disbelief.

Then the team erupted.

This time, they didn’t just mob Sahil. They were pointing. They were pointing back at Fine Leg. They were pointing at Raghav.

"HE’S A GHOST!" Pawan roared from Short Leg. "He’s not even bowling, and he’s taking wickets!"

Raghav, from the boundary, just watched. His seasoned mind understood the psychology perfectly. ’I didn’t take that wicket. The idea of me took that wicket. They’re not playing against us anymore. They’re playing against the boogeyman.’

The Sivasagar team was in a full-blown, catastrophic mental collapse.

Their next batsman, an all-rounder named Kaushik, walked to the crease. His face was white. He didn’t just look nervous; he looked sick. He was the fourth man in, and the score was still 35.

Sahil bowled out the rest of the over. The new batsman just blocked, his bat trembling, jabbing at the ball like it was a snake.

[Score: 35/3. Overs: 9.0]

Sarma didn’t relent. He kept the attacking field. He brought Utpal, the leg-spinner, back on from the other end.

[Ball 9.1]

Utpal saw the terror. He tossed his first ball up. A big, looping, beautiful Leg-Break. It was a "sucker" ball, begging to be hit.

The new batsman, Kaushik, saw the slow ball. His mind was screaming, ’Don’t get tricked! Don’t get tricked!’

His other mind was screaming, ’We need runs! I’m the all-rounder! I have to be the hero!’

The two impulses collided. He tried to do both. He tried to "attack" and "defend" at the same time.

He went for a massive, panicked Slog, but he didn’t use his feet. He was "stuck" in the crease.

THOCK.

He got a massive, towering Top Edge.

The ball went straight up in the air. A "skier."

It hung in the air for what felt like an eternity, a tiny white speck against the blue sky.

Underneath it, the world went silent.

Aakash, the keeper, ripped his helmet off, his eyes on the ball.

Rohan, the captain, at Mid-Off, was settling under it.

"CAPTAIN’S CALL!" Rohan roared, his voice clear and confident.

He positioned himself. He waited. He waited.

His hands were soft. The ball nestled into his palms. A simple, easy, devastating catch.

[Score: 36/4. Overs: 9.1]

Utpal, the bowler, just pumped his fist. This was easy.

The Sivasagar dugout was a morgue. Their coach was just staring, his clipboard forgotten.

This wasn’t a match. This was a rout.

The "scrappers" had no "scrap" left. They were a house of cards, built entirely on the bravado of their two openers. Raghav had pulled out the two bottom cards, and the entire structure had imploded.

The end came swiftly.

[Ball 10.3] Sahil, bowling with renewed venom, brought an In-swinger back in. The new batsman (Dinesh) was hit on the pads, plumb in front. LBW.

[Score: 40/5. Overs: 10.3]

[Ball 11.2] Utpal, bowling his Googly, completely fooled the number seven batsman. The batsman stepped out, missed...

Aakash, his glovework immaculate, whipped the bails off. Stumped.

[Score: 42/6. Overs: 11.2]

At this point, Coach Sarma showed his mastery.

He saw the game was won. But the war for his team’s loyalty was not.

He made a change.

He took Raghav off the field entirely. "Roi. You’re done. Ice that arm. Now."

Raghav, his body screaming, was grateful. He took his cap and walked off, to a smattering of applause from his own teammates.

Then, Sarma put Chinmoy, the resentful all-rounder Raghav had replaced, into Raghav’s "hot" spot at Cover.

He also brought him on to bowl.

This was a political masterstroke. He was giving Chinmoy a chance to feed on the carcass. He was managing the ego of a player who felt wronged.

Chinmoy, his face a mask of furious determination, was desperate to prove he was better than the "freak" with the "trick" ball.

He didn’t bowl spin. He didn’t bowl cutters. He just ran in and bowled fast, straight, angry deliveries.

And it worked.

[Ball 13.1] The Sivasagar number eight, his spirit broken, just swung, blindly. He missed. Chinmoy hit. Bowled.

[Score: 45/7. Overs: 13.1]

Chinmoy let out a roar. ’See? I can do it too!’

[Ball 13.3] He got another one. A catch, popped up to Rishi at Gully.

[Score: 45/8. Overs: 13.3]

The end was a formality.

[Ball 14.5] The number nine was Run Out, a brilliant, flat throw from Pawan, who was desperately trying to atone for his earlier fear.

[Score: 47/9. Overs: 14.5]

[Ball 15.2] And finally, Chinmoy, in a blaze of glory, bowled the last man.

[Score: 48. All Out. Overs: 15.2]

The Kamrup team walked off the field. The Sivasagar team was already on their bus.

The Kamrup players were quiet. They were stunned. They had won, but they had won in a weird, brutal, terrifying way.

They all walked into the shade where Raghav was sitting, his arm buried in a plastic bag full of ice.

They didn’t mob him.

They just... stood, looking at him.

Rajat, his face pale, his ankle throbbing, was there. Chinmoy, his anger now confusingly mixed with his own success, was there.

Rohan walked up. He looked at the ice. He looked at Raghav’s pained face.

"So," Rohan said, his voice quiet. "That... thing... you do. Does it... does it hurt you? Every time?"

Raghav looked up, his eyes cold and tired.

"It’s just work, Captain."

Rohan nodded, slowly. He finally, truly, understood. This kid wasn’t a "magician." He wasn’t a "freak."

He was a weapon. And weapons had a cost.

"Well," Rohan said, offering a water bottle. "The target is 49. We’ll get it in ten overs."

He looked at Raghav. "You... you just rest. You’ve done your job."

Raghav, his arm numb, his mind already on the next match, just nodded.

The first test was over.

He had passed.

(To be Continued)