A love lost, A life gained

The beginning

AN: I am following The Untold Story as my timeline because the real life death of Priyanka has never been specified by Mahi and it is honestly difficult to chart a story with unknown details. Hope you guys like. Even a keyboard smash comment is appreciated :)

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Saurav had taken the decision to give the Ranchi boy a chance after careful consideration. Jammy had too many responsibilities and they genuinely needed a second wicket keeper. He had also given the usual warning lecture he gave Yuvi every time in vain. Yuvi had a wonderful ritual of vetting out the newbies by absolutely terrorizing them. He always defended himself by saying he was just preparing his juniors for the harsh world out there, which was utter bullshit but you could only control the wild fire known as Yuvraj Singh, and the fuel to his fire Harbhajan Singh, so much. Sometimes he felt it was just karma for the grief he, Jammy and Sachin used to give Azhar bhai.

His first impression of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a person was that he was maybe a bit too reserved when he wasn't playing or practicing. On field, he showed an intensity, an intelligence that was not afraid to be known but off field? His debut was coming up but apart from the introductory activity they did to get to know him, they had yet to hear anything more than a couple of sentences at a time from the boy. All they knew was he preferred being called Mahi and he likes playing games, whether its video games or other sports. He sympathized heavily with him for the torture his youngsters were going to put the boy through in their attempt to break the ice but perhaps it would help him bond and gel with the team.

First came the infamous, Yuvraj Singh style intimidation which was just staring at him intensely at any odd time which could only be stopped by a slap upside the brat's head. To his credit, Mahi did not show any sign that he was affected by it until one of their last practice sessions before they left for Bangladesh. Yuvi who was done with warm ups and was waiting for a net session was practically glaring at the man in question who was quietly standing to the side and listening to the coaches talk. Saurav rolled his eyes but before he could intervene, Bhajji interrupted the glare session.

That day Saurav finally learned something substantial about the newbie; he was very, very good at hiding his feelings. The change in his posture and expressions would have gone unnoticed if Saurav had not been staring right at him. With a quick worried glance towards Yuvi's turned back, his face became much more relaxed and he stood a bit less wound up. This was great news and also very bad news for the captain. Great because now he had a starting point to get to know the young man. Bad news because Saurav knew from his experience with Jammy, that anyone who hid themselves that good, were way harder to read and protect. People like Saurav, Yuvi, Bhajji and even Sachin who was mild mannered but wore his heart on his sleeve; people like them were open books, if they had a problem anyone close to them could read right into it. Jammy and Mahi though? If they were struggling, it was upto you to find out if they are struggling in the first place.

"Mahi?"

Mahi jogged upto his captain instantly, "Yes sir?"

"Kitni baar bola hai, its Dada for all of you," Saurav scolded him good naturedly.

"Yes si- sorry, yes Dada."

"Come help me with my stretches"

"Yes Dada"

After a minute of silence, he started the conversation again.

"Mahi?"

"Yes si- Yes Dada?"

"Are you settling in well?"

"Yes Dada"

Saurav huffed a laugh, "Do you have any words except 'Yes Dada'?"

Mahi stopped and looked at him confused, "Sorry Dada?"

Now he did laugh, "You are cute" he told the boy. Mahi only looked even more confused if a bit embarrassed too. He stood up and put an arm around the kid.

"I know Yuvraj is probably making you uncomfortable right now. Don't mind him, that boy is crazy, he will stop in a few days. No amount of scolding gets through his thick skull. He probably just wants to be friends."

Mahi nodded dutifully, "It is fine Dada, doesn't bother me,".

Saurav sighed, one Jammy was tough enough to crack, now they have found a 2.0 version; "Even if it doesn't bother you, you can tell him to stop. Or you can come to me. You are one of my boys now, anything you want or need is my responsibility".

Reading Jammy was all about seeing through the cracks in the great wall, seeing through the calm composure. Reading Mahi was all about that minute shift in in his eyes, the twitches of his face. Instead of the pleasant but reserved expression they were used to seeing him sport, there was a small relieved smile on his face that he quickly hid by ducking his head.

"Thank you Dada" he said quietly, trying to hide the amount of warmth he had just felt.

Saurav ruffled his long hair with an exasperated smile, "Go back to practice now. Shoo".

He hadn't debuted yet but Saurav Ganguly had good gut feelings and his gut feeling told him that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was going to be here for a while. For a good long while, and he was ready to chew Jammy's head off for that period of time for being so frustratingly tough to read since he obviously cannot go off on the young version.

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AN: I just find Mahi and Rahul veryyy similar in nature, great walls of strength you can rely on with the very best cricketing minds. When Mahi scored that iconic 148, Rahul was on the other end. I feel like when Mahi was younger, especially in the presence of Dada or Rahul, he would play more carefree? As in he did not have to worry about rotating the strike and guarding his wicket. It strikes me as very endearing because he took up responsibility very early in his career and that obviously matured him faster as a cricketer. Vintage Dhoni, everyone knows, swings that RBK bat with all his tree trunk like strength.