Beginning of The End

:(

MS who was sitting up in the balcony frowned in mild confusion when he saw the captain taking his helmet off. He raised his head and squinted his eyes, looking to see if the decision of the dismissal had been overturned.

But it had not.

In fact he could see Rohit walking off the field, a wide smile on his face as he looked up at his wife sitting in the VIP box while Suryakumar Yadav jogged towards the crease instead of India's prized number 3 batsman.

As he sat there and looked at the captain taking his gloves off in the last game he would be leading, he realized something had changed. 

Mahi could barely tear his eyes away from his boy for the rest of the match, he tried to smile on the boundaries hit by SKY but somehow his eyes would always find Virat's back sitting in the dugout.

Virat had been sitting there, wearing his helmet, prepared to step inside the field any second for the entire match. And now when finally time had come for him to go out on the field as the Indian captain one last time to grace the format, he was taking his helmet off. 

India won the match comfortably but they were always expected to do so and the victory only felt like a formality of sorts.

"Surya didn't get much game time in this World Cup, so I thought it will be a nice memory to take back. That was the idea."

MS found himself trying to hide a chuckle when he heard Virat reasoning during the post match presentation. But the chuckle wasn't mocking or teasing, but it held an understanding now. Understanding that his little boy had probably grown up now.

So he chose not to say anything until they were in the team bus, away from the prying eyes of the media and in a comfortable silence.

"Virat, everything's fine right?" MS couldn't help the question rolling off his tongue as he slipped into the seat next to him swiftly before anyone else could occupy it.

But as the younger man turned towards him with a raised eyebrow he knew things weren't as wrong as he had been fearing them to be. "Achcha cheeks, ab bata kya hua." Mahi prodded a little further when he saw the laidback expression in his eyes.

"Kya batau bhai? Kuch bhi toh nahi hua." Virat chuckled as he slipped his phone inside his backpack and now it was Mahi's turn to raise an eyebrow. 

"Why didn't you go out to bat today then?" Mahi inquired in a low voice, not wanting the boys to listen in their conversation. But Virat just grinned and shook his head, "I said at the presentation na bhai. SKY goes at number three, or I do, it's not a big deal."

"So your last game as t20 captain, and you not batting in it makes no difference to you?" Mahi bhai asked pointedly and he could see that the grin on Virat's face was beginning to waver a little.

But he forced the grin back on his face and shook his head again, "Of course not bhai, kya farak padta hai? The boys had a good time and anyways we were going to win this one." Mahi bhai frowned at him, unconvinced by his words and almost instinctively he turned around to look for a certain somebody.

Rohit was sitting near the back of the bus, Hardik and Rahul on either sides as they filmed Ishan enacting some silly dance routine. Rohit looked up from the phone and met Mahi's eyes for a second, flashed a smile at him before his eyes returned to the nuisance in front of him.