IF I NEVER MET YOU.....(FANFIC)

NOSTALGIA ISN'T ALWAYS A BITCH AFTER ALL!

The next week we were in Southampton, England and we were having the time of our lives..The match was on 15th but we landed earlier on 12th. We roamed around various other cities too...Alex took me to his home for the first time in London....
The country is so high spirited and full of life. I am not a shopaholic but alex surely is.
He kept entering every other shop just like rahul .
Finally the day came, it was the 1st T20 match of India tour of England. The crowd was packed and animated. Not a single seat was unoccupied . These reminded me of the last times i came to see Rahul play .
And these thoughts made me wander , if I really am over him, then why is everything around me is reminding me of him.
Unfortunately, our seats were just next to the dressing room. I may not be in touch with watching cricket but I've always kept information about his current statuses...The last time I checked which was two weeks ago, I realised he's been going through a rough patch. His performances have deteoriated drastically since our breakup. He mustn't be in a good mental state right now. I was upset seeing how much our personal lives has affected his professional one.

India won the toss and chose to bat. After a good thirty minutes of break the openers of team India, Rahul and Mayank entered the field, the match started. He and Mayank walked passed me. The game started. The way Rahul was playing, if only he was wearing the white uniform, he would be mistaken as playing a test match. Till then he has just scored 12 runs out of 23 balls, Mayank on the other hand was playing aggressive, he was at 24 not out off 7. Not the start I expected, though alex was very happy seeing England get a good start.

Out of nowhere, Mayank got out on the very next ball and departed the field with 24 off 8.
I was devastated. They needed to bounce back. Virat came in and the very first ball left the boundary with a distance of 21m...HUGE SIX BY VIRAT!!! I was now relieved. The last ball of the over went for a good 101 m six.
The next ball, Rahul on strike, eyes glued on the ball and very focused. Sam Curran, threw a full toss and BAMM!!!! a six!!! Over the covers. I didn't realise the distance the ball covered until I looked at the board and found out it was a 111m of six. This is the longest six he has ever hit. I was feeling very overwhelmed but tried to control my emotions since alex ,beside me, was mourning for his team. I am sure if he could, he would've started cursing the batsmen too. Within minutes the scenario of the matched reversed. Rahul's knock accelerated. We were in a very good condition. Rahul was playing at 81 off 49 and Virat was at 72 off 31.

10 minutes later, last ball of last over going on, rahul on strike ,playing at 95 not out. Virat went to him and spoke something in his ears. England captain Morgan sent all the fielders near the boundary. Archer started running with the ball, Rahul opens his front leg to create the angle for a full swing of the bat , a Yorker came, he hit, Jordan ran following the ball, standing at the edge he tried to catch it and DROPPED!!!!!!! A FLAT SIX !! I jumped off in excitement without any care of my surroundings. Rahul was 101 not out. He had tears in his eyes, I could feel him, all the nasty reasons that media gave for our breakup, or the amount of trolls he has to face all this time, had made him a man full of regrets . And today, seeing him smile innocently, gave me enormous happiness . He proudly walked back to the pavilion giving answers to the trollers on their face after hitting his 3rd T20 international century.
Rahul and Virat helped the team reach a very decent total of 235.

After a short break , the men in blues were back in field confident. Rahul was keeping. Bumrah came to ball and first ball went for six. Alex grinned at me. Surprisingly, the openers, didn't let the wickets fall and scored 72 runs in the powerplay while ours were just 36 at this time. Yuzvendra chahal came bowling and first ball, first wicket for india, joss butler gone for 51 off 20. Wickets kept raining after that.

England was all out at 201. The middle order gave their best but couldn't reach the target. Alex was sad and happy at the same time. Don't ask why. INDIA WON!!!! And guess who became the man of the match, RAHUL!!!

I was happy and proud, FOR RAHUL and grateful to ALEX.