Originally posted here on February 19, 2009.
“Yes. I will be there. Thank You.” Prashant kept the phone down and sighed. Then he promptly fell asleep.
At the other end of the line Raj Shankar was less at ease. He had made the easier of the two phone calls. After a few moments of thinking hard, he picked up the phone again and dialled the other number in front of him.
“Hello. Am I talking to Suresh Shivdasani? Oh.. Good. This is Raj, from the selection chairman’s office…. Umm… Yes.. Well, I tried my best. But the selectors need more. Sorry? Yes… Yes.. Well, don’t lose heart. I am aware you are 31. You should have been selected, but then you know how it is. I am sure you’ll make the cut on the next tour. I’ll leave you to concentrate on the Ranji matches coming up. Best of luck. See you.”
Raj mopped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. This was difficult for him. He was used to rejecting good candidates for selection, but this was different. In the past he had never even paid 100 rupees to the policewala. Today he had accepted money to reject the strongest case for selection. Instead he had selected a person, who, he was not sure, had picked up a bat in his life.
Suresh Shivdasani had, over the last two years, amassed 2700 runs at an amazing average of 78.5 in domestic cricket. His fielding, even at 31, was sharp, and he had done enough with the ball.
Prashant Gupta had not played a game of cricket for the last 11 years. Even when he did, it was with a tennis ball, on roads dodging cars and trying to avoid barbed wire fences as he ran for catches.
Sargam Lal Gupta was a hard man. His business acumen was known and respected everywhere. His life was dedicated to his business, and his only contact with his children was that he expected them to join him in the family business at the right time. And with all his strict discipline, he was veru fond of his second son, Prashant. Right from the young age of 6, Prashant had shown traits of very sharp business sense, and was a go getter. He took interest in Sargam’s business very early, and his inputs had been very helpful at times.
Raj Shanker knocked on the door of the chairman and went in. “It is done, sir. Anything else?”, he asked. Priyank Tandon, the chairman, thanked him and said that would be all. After Raj left, he sat at his desk,pondering. Like Raj, he too, had been a good man all his life. And more importantly a true athelete. He rationalinalised that it was not in his hands but it sure left a bad taste in his mouth. He remembered the meeting that had taken place a month ago. He’d been called to possibly the most expensive hotel in the city.
In the room he recognised Lalu Sanjay, the home minister for the state who’s secretary had called him. He was with another man. As soon as he sat down the man began, “I am Sargam Lal Gupta. I am the owner of 8 industries with turnover in billions. I want my sons to look after my empire when I get old. But before that I want them to enjoy. And my son Prashant has never asked for anything in his life – never. Today he has and I will make sure he gets it. He shall play cricket in the national side in the tour of Australia – and all matches. Lalu saab will not be happy if this is not ensured. I will not be able to stop him from taking a rash action in that case, although I will try. You will be paid 5 lakh. Thank You.” He had turned to his host and started to discuss other things as if Priyank had ceased to exist in the room.
“Australian tours are always hard. And we had a young team. Only 4 of the current setup had played on Aussie soil before. I am happy with our take-aways from this tour.”, the coach said in the press conference.
The captain put in his lines, “It was heart breaking to have lost the series after winning the series opener. But the boys fought hard. As for the biggest take away there are no prizes for guessing – Prashant was the revelation.For someone making his debut scores of 145, 78, 123, 98 and 40 – odd are fantastic. There were a lot of questions raised about his past record, but I think he’s laid them to rest.”
In another part of the world, a pair of feet, suspended in air, twitched rapidly for a while before freezing. At 31 years and 85 days, Suresh Shivdasani ended his life by hanging from the ceiling. His last 5 scores read 0, 2, 0, 0, 8. He got just 2 wickets and dropped 3 catches.
“Your batting has been just one part of the whole package that you have been for this Indian team. Your fielding, and off spin bowling have given the team the edge they were so desperately seeking. You are now seen as the forerunner for the all rounder’s slot in the up coming series to Pakistan. How does it feel to be a regular part of this dressing room?”, a scribe from some magazine asked.
“I will not be joining the team in Pakistan. Or ever again.”, Prashant replied.
“Why?!”
“I don’t know… Who is John Galt?” replied Prashant.
