Friday, Afternoon
‘Thank God for the passes!’ Kabir said. At each entrance or checkpoint, their passes ensured they were ushered in without any wait or delay.
‘Not God! Thank your Dad!’ Aditya responded. After all, it was Chief Walia who had got them those passes.However, the passes didn’t help with the crowd. It was a short walk from the gate to the stadium, but the entire block was packed.
The trio were just a few metres away from the entrance to the stadium’s steps when they came to a sudden halt as a roar went up in the stadium. Hundreds of fans had begun chanting Rahul’s name and they knew they hadn’t made it in time. Rahul had made his entrance on the pitch and there was no way they could get the message to him now that Pingu was safe.
Not ready to accept defeat, Aditya snatched the basket from Akriti’s hands and rushed ahead.
‘Come on!’ Kabir said, tugging at Akriti. Kabir and Akriti sprinted behind Aditya, trying to keep up with the speed of his long legs.
‘Do you know where we are going?’ Akriti asked Kabir.
‘No. But looks like he does,’ Kabir answered. Though he had no idea what Aditya was planning, he trusted his friend and simply followed him. At first, he thought Aditya would go towards the members’ box where Rhea would be seated with the VVIPs. But Aditya didn’t take the stairs. Instead, he ran straight in towards the ground. As soon as he reached the protective fence around the ground, he opened the basket and allowed Pingu to get out. Pingu jumped out of the basket and instinctively leapt onto the fence. From the fence she jumped into the playing area and ran onto the ground.
The Australian bowler who was just about to bowl his first ball to Rahul, stopped. Pingu had brought the game to a standstill. The television cameras shifted focus from the players to the cat that had brought the game to a halt. As images of the cat flashed on the giant screen, oohs and aahs erupted from every corner of the stadium.
Rahul saw the image of Pingu on the giant screen. He dropped his bat and ran towards Pingu. Rhea too dashed down from the players’ enclosure. Rahul was the first to reach Pingu. He went down on his knees and tried to scoop her up in his arms. However, an excited Pingu only paused to show her affection by rubbing her furry body against Rahul’s leg before leaping into Rhea’s arms. The moment she had Pingu in her arms, Rhea burst into tears. A teary-eyed Rhea with Pingu in her arms was broadcast over television sets all across the country.
The local police and Chief Walia too made their way out to the ground. Chief Walia looked around and saw Aditya, Kabir and Akriti in the crowd and sent for them to be brought in. Rhea hugged them when she got to know that the SMS detectives were the ones who had rescued Pingu.
Finally, the ground was cleared and the match was set to start. Rahul walked back to the crease and stood upright to face the first ball.
As the bowler ran in to bowl the first ball, there was a renewed vigour and determination in Rahul’s stance. Now that he had seen Pingu and knew that she was safe and back with his wife, his worries were over. He could now do what he was best at. He let his cricket fervour take over and stared hard at the bowler. The first ball hadn’t even been bowled yet, but he already knew the outcome of the match – India was going to win. After all, he was going to play his best game and ensure a win for his country.
The noise of the crowd reached a crescendo as the bowler rolled his arms over and bowled the first ball. ‘This one’s for Pingu,’ Rahul said to himself, as he swung his bat to hit the ball over the boundary and open the match with a six.
Rahul was well on his way to win the match, for Pingu.