Prince had brought some calmness to Samir as well, and the team looked more confident on the touchline too, seeing Prince's calm and composed demeanour, he wasn't losing his wicket anytime soon. Soon, the play restarted at the twelfth over, and Prince was on strike.
1st Ball: The spin bowler was introduced into the fray, being a spinner himself, he had some semblance of how to bat spin, the bowler came in, tossing a carrom ball straight at the stumps, slow and steady, Prince bought down the bat as the ball neared the crease, and swept it to deep square leg, where the fielder stopped it before a four, but Prince still ran twice to stay on strike. 2 runs.
2nd Ball: The bowler came back, this time deciding not to try anymore floaters, he knows that Prince would attack them, the bowler neared the crease and bowled a googly, Prince who had seen this tomfoolery coming, waited for the ball to turn as to not get fooled by the googly, and tapped it towards deep point, where there was no man to stop it, and it rolls into the boundary ropes for 4 runs.
3rd Ball: The bowler was running out of options here, and decided to throw a leg cutter, he came in slightly faster than before, Prince watched as the ball landed short and spun towards him, going for his legs, but Prince flicked it off his pads and ran like hell for two runs. Coach Gautam looked happy, and as Samir and Prince convened on the pitch, "Bro, leave some for me!" Prince chuckled and replied, "nah." 2 Runs.
4th Ball: The bowler came in once again, this time for an off-cutter. Prince readied himself, knowing the assault by watching the bowler's hands turn, he stood firm, tapping the bat on the ground as the ball came in for his pads, he watched as it spun closer, and as it came, Prince smashed the bat past his pad and wacked the ball to deep midwicket, and watched as it sailed over the ropes for six.
5th Ball: Prince watched as the bowler came in and was caught off guard by the bowler's unusual throw of a floater. Prince had to wake himself up and, eventually, just managed to tap it to cover for a single...
6th Ball: Samir came on strike after the single, and he looked much more confident, Samir being close to a middle order batsmen, knew well how to play spin, and as the bowler came in, he made the mistake of bowling the same floater he did to Prince, but Samir saw this coming, and belted it out of the park for six runs, leaving the bowler in awe, he had been completely smashed this over. 6 runs.
Score: 99/3 ----- (End of 12th Over)----- Samir: 16/13----- *Prince 30/9
Prince and Samir continued to bat well despite the rapid switching between seam and spin, and soon they were reaching the death overs, and the switching stopped. The seam was brought into play to destroy and take as many wickets as possible...
(18th Over)
Score: 160/3----- *Samir 36/28----- Prince 71/30
Both Batsmen were in fantastic form now, putting up a decent score for the rivals to chase...
1st Ball: The seam bowler came in for Samir, the fastest bowler they have, he smashed his arm down and in came a massive yorker, which Samir barely managed to tap away from the stumps, no run at all.
2nd Ball: The bowler came in again, bowling even faster, an off cutter, that was so close to the crease, kit was nearly a full toss, it cut behind Samir's legs and clattered into the stumps, causing a massive smashing noise as it came down, sending Samir out, Prince fist bumped him as he walked off and Faizal came on, Prince would now be on strike, they convened for a moment.
"Faizy, don't do anything, hit singles if you're on strike to bring me back, I'll hit big, you take one for the team for now, it's death overs..."
"Okay, da prince..."
3rd Ball: The bowler came in thinking he could catch prince lacking too, the ball obviously came in super fast, but the system helped prince watch the ball better, and as Prince moved to hit the ball, the body control ability made his muscles more flexible and strong, allowing a clean cover drive, over the heads of the fielders and past the boundary ropes for six.
4th Ball: The ball came in slower this time, trying to catch Prince off guard, but he immediately took the opportunity to hit a sweeping six, smashing into the ball, middle of the bat, off the ground and past the boundary at deep square leg. 6.
5th Ball: six...
6th Ball: The bowler came in with another deceptively slow ball. Prince saw this and yet reacted too early, going for the straight drive; however, the ball went straight up, and it landed in the keeper, Rishabh Pant's hand, sending Prince off, in the penultimate over...
Score: 178/5 Faizal 0/0 *Prince 89/34 (out)
Losing Prince and Samir in the same over was bad, and even though Ricky John came on, he and Faizal just couldn't get into the touch, and they eventually ended up only racking ten more runs for the total score, making it 188/5, a decent score to defend, however prince was long past thinking about this, he was brooding over how he missed his first century by just 11 runs, due to a silly mistake, causing coach Gautum to sit next to him.
"Boy, centuries will come, they will also go, you will get wickets and lose wickets, that's cricket, that's also life, you played a fantastic innings, maybe even worthy of being called a "captain's innings." let's see how you do in the next innings and maybe I'll think about it."
Prince was instantly shocked from his brooding as Gautam left, he saw the system ping in a new message...
-SYSTEM'S NEW DAILY TASK FOR TODAY-
Play Well In Second Innings...
- Take a minimum of 2 wickets
- Defend the score
- Win the game and Captaincy too.
Rewards: Any Playstyle from Shop (1), 100 stat points, Kit Upgrader (1)
A new, more ready smile emerged on Prince's face; he would do anything for those rewards... The whistle blew, and Prince's team marched onto the pitch to field...