God of Cricket!-Chapter 31: Growth

Chapter 31: Growth

Aryan woke up feeling rejuvenated.

The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of wet earth that defined Mumbai mornings during the monsoon transition.

He was feeling good, better than good actually.

The piece of news Coach Kulkarni had shared yesterday about the NCA High-Performance Camp call-up was enough to make the year of any young cricketer in India.

He hadn’t yet told Priya about the call-up to the National Cricket Academy. After a bit of deliberation, he decided to save the news for a special occasion, perhaps after the upcoming knockout tournament.

Aryan freshened up and went down for breakfast. It was livelier than usual as Riya was being chattier than always, talking about her school project.

After breakfast, the family of three sat down in the living room to relax. They were joined a few minutes later by Ananya, who walked in with a casual familiarity.

A few hours had passed since Ananya came. Both Aryan and Ananya had planned to go out to Marine Drive today but had to put that off as the sky opened up.

It started to rain heavily, a classic Mumbai downpour, just a few minutes before they had gotten ready.

The West Zone Group season had been completed with Mumbai U19 topping the West Zone group and qualifying for the ’Vinoo Mankad Trophy’ National Knockouts.

Aryan was looking at his Nokia phone when Ananya came back from the kitchen with a bowl of chips.

She saw Aryan staring too intently at the small screen and asked, "Why are you staring at the phone so much?" while sitting down next to him.

"Oh, nothing. Just checking the teams that qualified for the Nationals," Aryan said while looking at the information displayed on the WAP browser.

It showed the teams that would be playing in the competition alongside Mumbai U19.

Qualified Teams List (Quarter-Finalists):

Delhi U19 (North Zone Topper)

Mumbai U19 (West Zone Topper)

Karnataka U19 (South Zone Topper)

Bengal U19 (East Zone Topper)

Tamil Nadu U19

Punjab U19

Uttar Pradesh U19

Baroda U19

Aryan stared at the list. It was going to be a tough competition with youth teams from top associations like Delhi (producing players like Kohli), Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu being in the mix.

Aryan, however, felt the urge to prove his worth against these top state academies.

He wanted to test himself against the very best in the country and couldn’t wait to get the competition started.

Ananya, who saw how wide Aryan was grinning, couldn’t help but smile.

She had yet to tell Aryan that she would be leaving for University soon. She felt a tinge of sadness as their reunion was going to be cut short.

Aryan left Ananya with Riya and went to his room for a bit. Since it was raining heavily, he had to put off his daily outdoor task until it stopped or at least subsided a bit.

He had yet to check his System for the day.

Aryan summoned his System and looked through the Personal Information Hub.

He was satisfied to see the number of Stat Points he had hoarded and decided to use them to boost his attributes before the Nationals.

Before he could go through with his plan, the System sent him a notification.

"Ding."

[System Error Correction: There had been a miscalculation in your allocation of points by the System during the Beginner Phase. Therefore, the System will be deducting 20 Stat Points to balance the progression curve.]

Aryan had a wry smile as he knew this would be coming sooner or later. He felt that he was growing a bit too fast compared to reality.

He had resigned to his fate but he still felt sad about losing the points.

He saw that the message had not ended and he continued to read the rest.

[Patch Note: Host’s Stat Point gain from Daily Tasks has been reduced to 1 Stat Point per session. Training reward days are now limited from Tuesday to Saturday as the System recognizes that the Host needs rest to prevent burnout. LP points are also reduced to 200 points per session.]

Aryan, after he had finished reading, decided to allocate the remaining stat points. He opened his Player Information and looked at it.

[PLAYER INFO]

NAME: ARYAN SHARMA

AGE: 14 (15 weeks TO 15)

HEIGHT: 1.80m (5’11")

PROFESSION: CRICKETER

STATUS: YOUTH PROSPECT

TEAM: Mumbai U19

SYSTEM EVALUATION: Youth Prospect

PLAYER RATING: 66/100

POSITION: Fast-Bowling All-Rounder

POTENTIAL: 87

LEGEND POINTS: 11,500/67,000 to LV 5

STAT POINTS: 35

[STATS]

Speed: 70

Footwork: 65

Spatial Awareness: 65

Technique: 65

Batting: 66

Bowling: 64

Physical Strength: 64

Weak Zone Proficiency: 4 stars

Shot Creativity: 4 stars

[SKILLS POSSESSED]

Cover Drive: 85% Completion

Helicopter Shot: 50% Completion

Switch Hit: 70% Completion

Reverse Paddle: 50% Completion

[TRAITS]

Improviser: Equipped

Gap Piercer: Equipped

Blitz: Equipped

Aryan saw the [35] stat points left and still couldn’t come to terms with the deduction. He sighed before continuing with his upgrade. He had seven categories to upgrade.

Aryan saw that his Speed stat was good (70 was high for a cricketer) and decided to ignore that for now.

He also decided to ignore the Batting stat for now and focus most of the points on his Bowling stat to become a true all-rounder.

After all, he was playing a vital role with the ball in the middle overs.

Aryan clicked on his Bowling stat and it opened.

Bowling: 64

Line and Length: 64

Swing: 65

Pace Variations: 65

Aryan looked at it and started distributing the stat points. His Bowling stat looked something like this after he was done.

Bowling: 64 > 69

Line and Length: 64 > 69

Swing: 65 > 69

Pace Variations: 65 > 69

Aryan had spent [13] stat points on his Bowling stat alone.

After he was done, he decided to upgrade his Physical Strength to cope with the demands of bowling fast and hitting long sixes.

Physical Strength: 64

Stamina: 68

Core Strength: 62

Throwing Power: 63

Aryan allocated [10] stat points to this Attribute.

Physical Strength: 68

Stamina: 68 > 70

Core Strength: 62 > 66

Throwing Power: 63 > 67

Aryan saw that he was left with [12] stat points. He looked at his Spatial Awareness Attribute (Fielding/Captaincy IQ) and the Footwork Attribute. After a bit of contemplation, he decided to use them all on Spatial Awareness.

Spatial Awareness: 65

Vision (Reading the Game): 65

Fielding Positioning: 65

Aryan added [6] stat points to each of the two stats.

Spatial Awareness: 65 > 71

Vision: 65 > 71

Fielding Positioning: 65 > 71

Aryan, after he was done, went back to his Player Information Hub.

[PLAYER INFO]

NAME: ARYAN SHARMA

AGE: 14 (4 months TO 15)

HEIGHT: 1.81m (5’11")

PROFESSION: CRICKETER

STATUS: YOUTH PROSPECT

TEAM: Mumbai U19

SYSTEM EVALUATION: Youth Prospect

PLAYER RATING: 68/100

POSITION: Fast-Bowling All-Rounder

POTENTIAL: 89

LEGEND POINTS: 11,500/67,000 to LV 5

STAT POINTS: 0

[STATS]

Speed: 70

Footwork: 65

Spatial Awareness: 65 > 71

Technique: 65

Batting: 66

Bowling: 64 > 69

Physical Strength: 64 > 68

Aryan looked at his attributes and was very happy.

"Ding."

[Player OVR rating has been upgraded from 66 to 68], the System sounded.

Aryan looked at the message and smiled a bit. He stood up after realizing the rain had stopped drumming against the window for a while now.

He went downstairs and saw both Ananya and Riya helping his mum in the kitchen.

He couldn’t help but laugh at Riya’s watery eyes that would drop a tear every now and then while she was chopping onions for the pakoras.

Aryan joined them in the kitchen and helped in frying the snacks.

Aryan played cards with the three women after dinner before they switched to watching a Bollywood movie on the TV.

Aryan and Ananya left the house for a stroll because Aryan did not like the melodramatic serial they were watching, and Ananya just decided to tag along.

"So when will you be going to University?" Aryan asked while they were walking along the wet pavement of the complex.

Neither of them had talked much up to this point, and Aryan decided to break the silence.

"In a few weeks’ time," she answered, as she had decided to tell him anyway.

"So you got in, huh?" Aryan said.

"Yeah," Ananya replied with a satisfactory smile.

Ananya had applied to Delhi University (North Campus) and had gotten in. Aryan would also be starting his 10th grade (SSC) in the coming semester.

"So will I be seeing you still?" Aryan asked..

"Not that often, but I guess on days that I’m free or during semester breaks, I can visit," Ananya said.

"Well, that’s good enough. I can also visit when I come to Delhi for matches," Aryan said, to which Ananya’s face lit up.

"That’s also very good," she said in a slightly higher voice than normal.

Aryan looked at her as the streetlights shone on her face. Her cheeks had a rosy color to them in the cool monsoon breeze, and overall she was stunning..

Aryan was unconsciously smiling while looking at Ananya. It had been weird the past week as he had started staring more at her and admiring her, and even now he was looking at her lovingly.

Aryan didn’t know when he had started to get these feelings, and as much as he felt he knew the answer to that, he didn’t want to ruin the relationship between the two of them.

Ananya, sensing that Aryan was conflicted about something, just smiled.

Although he had grown physically into an athlete, he still had that childlike face he’d make whenever he didn’t understand something or how to go about something.

(To be Continued)