Pyaar Se: An Innings At Love

51. backlash

"I like to feel his eyes on me
when I look away."

Kriti's P.O.V.

Today was Match Number Two for India. It was against Pakistan and I think everybody is well aware of the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry.

After getting defeated in the first match, the people over the internet went bonkers. The trollers and the haters, they got agitated.

Everybody was blaming the Indian team, especially Naman- since he is the captain. I know all of this doesn't really affect Naman as much but it pains me to see the things they're wishing upon him and saying about him.

Sometimes I wonder how easy it is for people to say the rudest of the things to people they don't know shit about. They don't care about the other person's feelings, they just vent out their frustration and walk away, as if the one getting blamed deserves it. It's a sad reality.

Anyways, the toss happened and Pakistan won and chose to bat first, I saw it coming. Wow, I'm getting good at understanding cricket. Naman would be proud.

Pakistan set up a good score for India to chase.

India's batting was going fine so far, no problems as such. There was just one wicket down and we were at sixty-seven runs.

I put the TV remote on the table and quickly grab myself a bottle of water, making sure I don't take enough time to miss a major part of the match.

Sadly, when I returned, the second wicket had fallen and now the score was '73-2'.

The second wicket had fallen, it meant it was Naman's turn to come and bat.

Suddenly, there was a massive hooting from the crowd and the camera panned towards the stairs descending from the dressing room. There he was- my favourite person.

Naman was walking down the stairs, in all his glory, while fixing his gloves as he held the bat in between his underarm for the meanwhile.

He walked towards the pitch, and set himself on the crease. He adjusted his helmet a bit and then got in the position to hit the ball.

The bowler did the run up and bowled the ball in Naman's direction. He was about to hit the ball but somehow, in less than a second, instead of making contact with the bat, the ball hit the bails.

The entire stadium went silent.

Fuck.

"A golden duck for Pakistan! Mehra has to depart. This is unbelievable." I heard the commentator say. He continued but the voice faded away when I noticed the expression on Naman's face.

Disappointed, guilty & upset.

That what he was feeling in the moment, I could tell.

Naman's lips moved into something inaudible, which I presume he was probably cursing himself, as he walked back to the dressing room.

God, I wish I was there with him.

I wish I could just hold him and tell him that it's okay. I cannot even imagine what he must be going through right now. All of those voices inside his head must be eating him.

It'll all be okay, Naman. You are going to be okay, everything is going to be fine. Just believe in yourself.

India eventually lost the match against Pakistan and my husband looked incredibly sad in the post match presentation, though he did his best to hide it.

About an hour after the match finished, I heard something hitting the window. I walked towards it to check and what I saw in front of me made me freeze in my tracks.

There was a crowd gathered outside of our house and some of them were hitting stones towards the house while some were holding posters and they were shouting something which was not audible to me because of the glass window that separated us.

I focused my eyes on the poster and they read, 'Ban Naman Mehra!', 'Mehra Made India a Joke in Front of Pakistan', 'Naman Mehra Does Not Deserve to be a Cricketer.'.

One of them even went as far as saying, 'Naman Mehra, you are a disappointment.'. I didn't realise I was crying until I felt my tears near my lips.

Are these guy even real?

They are literally harassing him and us.

Ding dong!

The doorbell's ringing startled me. Fuck, who could it be? What if these guys found a way upstairs?

Ding dong.

The bell rang again. For my protection, I grabbed the nearby vase and walked towards the entrance.

"W-Who is it?" My voice came out shaky.

"Kriti, it's Arjun. Don't worry." A familiar voice spoke from the other side.

Thank god.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I opened the door which revealed a very tensed looking Arjun bhaiya standing there.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing he asked.

I nodded my head, still recovering from the fear I acquired from the scenes outside our house.

Arjun bhaiya walked towards the living room's where there were ceiling to floor windows. I followed him.

In front of us, we saw this man bring out this cutout of my husband and he put it in the centre while the people gathered around.

My eyebrows pulled together in confusion as I wondered what they were going to do with it. All of my doubts went away when the guy poured some liquid, which I supposed was gasoline, over the cutout and set fire to it.

Ouch.

"Oh God." My voice broke.

Tears were flowing down my eyes as I witnessed the scene in front of me. How could these people be so insensitive?

"Don't cry, Kriti." Arjun bhaiya consoled me as he put him arm over my shoulder.

"The police has arrived. They'll take care of it. Just please don't cry." He further added.

"Why are they doing this, bhaiya? Because we lost a match? A fucking match? That's it?" I cried out.

"Is that what these people have stooped to, now? This is what he gets after all that he's done for the country?" My sobs didn't stop.

"I know, Naman doesn't deserve this. The team doesn't deserve this. But it is what it is. Some people in this country take cricket way too seriously, so seriously that they forget that it is just a game at the end. A game. But there's nothing that can change their thought process." Arjun bhaiya's voice sounded...hurt.

He continued, "As long as the team wins matches for them, they're happy and all in awe of the players but it just takes one match for these guys to show their true colours."

"And there's nothing that can be done about it?" I asked him.

Silence.

His silence spoke all that I needed to know.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?"