Venue: Basavanagudi Cricket Academy Nets, Bangalore
Characters Introduced: Coach Murali
Morning Rituals – Discipline in Dust
Arjun's mornings had taken a new shape since the KSCA Under-16 call-up. Every day, he rose at 5:50 a.m. sharp in their modest two-room home in Hanumantha Nagar. He moved like clockwork—splashing his face with cold water from the bucket, wrapping his wrists with fresh tape, folding his whites neatly, and kissing his mother's sleeping forehead before slipping out silently. By 6:20 a.m., he stood at the Basavanagudi nets, just as the sunlight filtered through tamarind leaves and painted golden strokes across the red soil.
Coach Nayak was already there most mornings, clipboard in hand, sipping filter coffee from a steel tumbler. But he never needed to say a word. Arjun would warm up with fifteen minutes of shadow batting, practicing his footwork on worn-out matting. Then came fifteen minutes of dynamic stretches: lunges, arm circles, torso twists—meticulously clocked.
At 6:45 sharp, the day's specific drill began.
Session 1 – Cover Drive Corrections:
Today was cover drives. Coach Nayak, ever meticulous, had marked an off-stump channel with chalk lines and placed an old mat to mark the driving zone. He assigned a tall left-arm net bowler named Satvik to deliver only full-length outswingers from wide of the crease.
"Feet. First. Always," Coach Nayak barked. "Watch me."
He mimed the stroke. "Front foot forward, weight over the knee, bat coming down in a straight line. But most importantly—tilt your head slightly to the left. Your left eye should be in line with the ball. You're playing across it otherwise."
Arjun nodded and took guard. The first ball came—just outside off. He reached for it but mistimed, slicing it toward point.
"Too early. Your bat angle's off," Nayak said, walking over. "Keep your wrists soft. Flex your front elbow 45 degrees at the moment of contact."
Second ball. Better. This time the foot moved early, the bat came through clean, and the ball skimmed toward the covers.
"Good. But don't open your shoulders too soon. You're leaking power."
Third ball. Full and teasing. Arjun dipped forward and met it with the full face of the bat. Crisp sound. The ball raced through extra cover.
"Perfect," Nayak said, allowing a faint smile. "That's three in a row. Next batch."
Session 2 – Pull Shot Under Pressure :
By 7:20 a.m., they shifted nets. This time, the focus was on the pull shot—Arjun's natural instinct against short balls. But Nayak wanted to discipline that aggression.
"Problem with you, Desai, is you attack short balls like a street dog at a thrown bone," he said. "Too eager. Let's fix your base."
They set up a bowling machine angled at chest height. Arjun was told to focus only on balls that rose above the hips.
First ball. He went for it—too soon. Top edge.
"Wrong transfer. Stay inside the ball," Nayak said. "And keep your head back—not falling forward. The moment your head leans in, you lose power and vision."
Second ball. He crouched, timed it late—better. Midwicket along the ground.
"Better. You timed it like a boxer now. Short-arm jab. Keep your elbow compact."
Third ball. Short, rising. Arjun rocked back, waited, then unleashed a clean pull through square leg. The crack echoed.
Nayak nodded. "That's the one. Now give me ten more like that. Controlled violence."
Session 3 – The Flick – Elegance with Economy :
At 7:45 a.m., the third net began. A sidearm specialist named Varun was instructed to bowl straight at leg stump, targeting pads and hips. Arjun had struggled with these in his early academy days—often closing the bat face too early or playing across.
"Wristwork is key," Nayak explained. "Your bat should come from inside the line of the ball. Tilt your bat face slightly toward square leg. Keep your balance upright. No leaning."
First delivery. Arjun tried to whip it too hard—closed the face. Leading edge ballooned up.
"See? No need to kill it. Use the ball's pace. Just guide."
Second ball. He stayed still, wrists soft—flicked gently. The ball slid between mid-wicket and square.
"Good. Now imagine your bottom hand as the steering wheel. Let it guide without overpowering."
Third ball. Full on the legs. Arjun waited, dropped his wrists at impact, and caressed it through fine leg.
Nayak's face lit up. "You're learning. Now give me twenty. One mistake and you start over."
Arjun didn't mind. He lived for repetition.
Session 4 – Bowling Chaos, Shaped :
As the clock struck 8:20 a.m., Coach Nayak dragged an old red stool into the dusty pitch area and placed a pair of metal stumps at a specific spot just outside the off-stump line for a right-hander.
"This is your target zone," he said. "You hit this ten times in a row, I'll let you experiment. Until then—discipline."
Arjun nodded and marked his run-up. First ball—an attempted off-break—sailed too wide. Second—too full and skidding low. The ball wasn't biting.
"You're rushing your fingers," Nayak said. "Spin comes from patience. Feel the seam leave your hand. Like this."
He crouched next to Arjun and showed him the exact finger roll—index and middle fingers guiding the ball across the seam like peeling a layer off a mango.
"Wrist locked. Elbow loose. Pivot through the front leg."
Next attempt—better flight, but still drifted too far down leg.
"You're dragging it. You want the ball to hang in the air, not run away. That's where your dip will come from."
Arjun tried again. The sixth ball landed near the stumps but didn't turn.
"Now give me your googly," Nayak challenged.
Arjun obliged, flicking the ball with his ring finger tucked over the seam. It floated in—and dropped straight, no turn at all.
"You're not hiding the grip," Nayak said. "And your shoulder is opening early. Tuck your elbow, keep your head over the release. Spin with the third finger. Not the wrist."
He demonstrated with a tennis ball, sending it curling back into an imaginary batsman.
"Go again."
Arjun kept at it—slider, top-spinner, back to the offie. Each had its flaws: either too short, too full, or flat. But slowly, he adjusted his body angles, flexed his fingers deeper around the seam, and began finding rhythm. The tenth ball dipped and kissed the top of middle stump. A clean, fizzing off-break.
"Finally," Nayak muttered, but his smile gave away his pride. "Now you're a bowler."
Arrival of Coach Murali – The Watcher in the Shadows
By 8:30 a.m., as regular academy boys began filing in with sleepy yawns and bravado, Arjun wiped his brow and prepared to pack up.
Unbeknownst to him, under the shade of a neem tree nearby, a new observer had arrived.
He wore a crinkled tracksuit, round glasses fogged from the morning warmth, and carried a beaten notebook pressed beneath his arm. His silver stubble glinted in the sun, and his eyes—sharp, unflickering—were locked on the boy in the net.
Coach Nayak walked over quietly.
"Coach Murali," he said in a low voice.
"The same," Murali murmured, eyes still tracking Arjun.
Murali had once played off-spin for Karnataka. Since retiring, he had earned a quiet reputation as a talent-spotter. He visited academies like a ghost—uninvited, observing from corners. He believed you didn't judge players by numbers. You judged them by how they survived.
Today, he was judging Arjun.
Unfiltered Chaos – Bowling in Spirals
Arjun came on to bowl again, this time in the proper nets. The net was busy—Bhargav padded up and smirking.
Arjun's first delivery was a wild looper that drifted too wide.
"Still not getting his pivot right," Nayak whispered.
Second ball. A flatter one—faster through the air. Bhargav lunged, missed.
Third ball. He tried his carrom ball—spun oddly and died at the feet.
Murali scribbled. "He has a spinner's soul. But no rhythm. That's not bad—it means he's still discovering. But look at his grip changes. Mid-over adjustments. He's thinking. Not surviving—competing."
When Arjun beat Bhargav with a dipping offie and followed up with a top-spinner that nearly trapped Rahul LBW, Murali nodded to himself.
"He's unpredictable. He doesn't fear experimentation. That tells me he's already thinking on a higher plane."
The Conversation – Flame in the Dirt :
Once nets wound down, most boys filed out toward the juice vendor near the gate. Arjun stayed back, removing his gloves, shadowing a shot in silence.
Murali approached.
"You always train this early?"
Arjun straightened. "Yes, sir."
"Why?"
"Fewer distractions. More time to fix things."
Murali's eyes twinkled. "Most kids your age chase attention. You chase silence."
He paused, then spoke with precision. "You bat like an artist who never liked staying within the frame. You bowl like a scientist who builds on instinct instead of formula. That's chaos. But within it, I see grit."
Arjun didn't know how to respond. Compliments made him uncomfortable.
Murali continued. "I watched you play three different shots today—each with corrected form. You listened to your coach. You adjusted. Most boys fake listening. You internalized."
He took a step closer.
"I want to train you personally. Twice a week. Morning sessions before others arrive. We'll shape your chaos. Keep the flair—build the frame."
Arjun's chest tightened. Not from nerves. But because someone had seen what even he had only begun to believe.
"Yes, sir," he said. "I'm game."
A Turning Leaf – Fire Under Watch
That night, Arjun sat cross-legged near the window, still in his practice clothes, staring out at the streetlamp casting long shadows on the lane below.
His thigh ached. His fingers throbbed.
But his heart raced—not with exhaustion. With purpose.
Coach Murali's words repeated in his head like a mantra:
"Freedom inside a frame. Chaos with control."
It was no longer about proving himself to the neighborhood, or even the academy.
He had just been seen by someone who had seen hundreds—and remembered only a few.
And now, he was one of the few.
Author's note: So this is how the chapters will progress. It will not be typical for him to go from playing under 16 to under 19, to zonal, and so on. Because of the support from Coach Murali, he will be selected for a division where he performs aggressively, which the selectors don't like. They wont have stable performance and consistent performance because of this Even in the further chapter, he will face problems ultimately. He will get dropped and return to play Ranji to stabilize his performance. I will also add his personality Charm, where he is calm and taciturn Handy in the next few chapters. I will also add his daily life snippets with his family.