Hey guys 👋🏻

Thank you for choosing to read this story

It's been quite some time since I first started writing this book and I'd really like to know from about what has been your favourite part in this story till now.

Also, I didn't receive any feedback about my new story idea about a cricketer dealing with match-fixing allegations and his family mistrusting him. This new book will be titled 'Love and Trust'

The above song is 'Hai Junoon' from the movie 'New York'

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~~~~~~~

It's almost time for the WPL final between Chennai Super Queens and Delhi Capitals Women.

Siya is also gaining a lot of popularity for her unique captaincy methods.

~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Shubman starts off the new year with a bang as he plays in the home series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

He performs quiet well in the ODIs, as he scores his maiden double century against New Zealand and breaks many records along the way.

During the last ODI match against the Kiwis, Shubman comes to field near the boundary rope and the crowd starts teasing him by chanting, "Hamari Bhabhi kaisi ho? Siya Bhabhi jaisi ho." (How should our sister-in-lawbe? Like Siya Bhabhi)

https://youtu.be/D1k9meBxC7g

(Imagine the same scene but with a slight name change)

Shubman looks towards his Cheeku Bhaiya with a pleading expression on his face, but Virat decides to have some fun and encourages the crowd instead, which further annoys the young lad.

He even makes his T20I debut against Sri Lanka, before scoring his maiden century against New Zealand.

The series against Australia doesn't go very well for Shubman, where he scores a century in the fourth test followed by a series of low scores in the ODI matches.

After the loss in the decider at Chennai, Shubman decides to spend some time with his best friend, before joining his IPL teammates.

~~~~~~~

On the morning of the WPL final, Mahi had come to the Chennai camp during a team meeting and chose to stay hidden to see how his little sister was leading her team.

Fleming spotted his former IPL captain but didn't say a word about it to anyone.

Mahi felt extremely proud as he watched his Gudiya talk to her team.

Right after the meeting was dismissed, Siya was looking around when she spotted her brother smiling at her and immediately ran to him shouting, "Bhaiya"

Mahi knew what was coming next, so he just stood firmly in his place, as his little sister ran into his arms.

Siya hugs her brother tightly and says, "I missed you so much."

Mahi pulls away and replies, "You're the one who told me to come only for the finals."

Siya says, "You had your own training camp to get to. I couldn't keep Chennai's Thala away from them for too long now, could I?"

Mahi raises his hands up in surrender and replies, "Alright Gudiya, you win."

Just then Ziva runs in the team room, shouting, "Bui"

Siya immediately gets down and hugs her little niece and says, "Aww princess, I missed you so much."

Ziva teasingly replies, "I missed you too, but I think Papa missed you the most."

Mahi simply rolls his eyes, before moving to greet his wife who had just arrived from Ranchi with their daughter.

Sakshi hugs her little sister after her daughter leaves her and says, "So nice to finally see you Bachha."

Siya smiles and replies, "I'll be with you all summer now so don't worry. I've also missed you all way too much."

Richa then comes forward to meet the Dhoni family, before Siya starts introducing her entire team to her family.

Mahi also has a short chat with the team about how they should consider the final to be just another match and not stress much about the result.

https://youtu.be/Svk8qDGW068

(Imagine a similar speech from Thala for the WPL yellow army)

The girls get ready to give their best performance and gear up, before getting on the bus for the last time in the season.

~~~~~~~

Siya and Lanning meet in the middle of the ground for the coin toss, which is won by DCW and Lanning choses to bat first.

CSQ gathers up for a team huddle, where the captain simply tells her team to play their natural game without worrying too much.

Siya leads her team onto the field, before all the players start taking their position.

Lanning comes out with Shafali to open the innings for her team, just like they had throughout the tournament.

Chennai manages to send the top four batters of Delhi back in the powerplay itself.

The commentators praise Siya for helping her team dominate from the very first ball of the innings in a format that usually favoured the batting side.

At the end of the first innings, DCW end up setting a very low total for CSQ to chase, but the game was not over yet.

CSQ loses their first opener in the powerplay itself and surprisingly the captain walks in herself at number three.

The chants of 'Dhoni, Dhoni' follow her as she walks out to the middle with purpose.

A few overs later, Chennai lose their second opener after Jemi takes a fantastic catch and their wicketkeeper, Richa walks in at number four.

Siya and Richa together start tearing apart the opposition's bowling attack by hitting boundaries all around the ground.

The Delhi bowlers can be seen losing their confidence, while the Chennai supporters start cheering more loudly.

When CSQ only needed a few runs to win, one of the bowlers decide to bowl a yorker to the Chennai captain, unaware that Siya's favourite shot was the helicopter.

Siya sees the yorker coming and smiles to herself, as she executes the helicopter shot to perfection and wins the match for her team.

Richa watches the ball sail over her head for a moment before running and jumping on her best friend.

The rest of the team comes running from the dugout and jumps on the captain because they had just won the inaugural season of the WPL.

~~~~~~~

Mahi was sitting in the VIP boxes with his family, a little away from public eye because he didn't want anyone to see him before the end of the match.

Shubman joined them, just before the teams come on the field for the first innings.

Mahi says, "You made it just in time. She would have been really angry if you had missed anything."

Shubman replies, "Bhaiya, it's really difficult to hide from the public and come inside. I don't know how you do it with Bhabhi and Ziva."

Mahi chuckles and says, "You'll learn with time. People want to catch you because you're the 'Golden Boy' of Indian Cricket right now."

Shubman asks, "What's the point of being a 'Golden Boy' if it doesn't help us win a series against Australia?"

Mahi replies, "Losing a series is better than losing a World Cup match. I'm sure you'll work harder to get the desired result in the World Cup."

Shubman smiles and nods in agreement, before they both look towards the ground because the match had started.

The two men keep cheering for Chennai throughout the first innings with Ziva, while Sakshi records everything.

During the second innings, Shubman was quite surprised to see his best friend walk in at number three and asks, "Why did she come in so early today?"

Mahi smiles and replies, "She is just trying to throw the opposition off their game."

Ziva dances in the VIP booth as Siya hits many big shots all around the ground.

Towards the end of the game, Mahi guides his daughter to move outside while pulling his wife behind him.

Shubman watches in awe as his best friend executes the helicopter shot to near perfection and ends the game.

After Siya picks up a stump and shakes hands with the opposition, she comes running to meet her family.

Shubman decides to tease his best friend and says in a formal tone, "I'm impressed, Miss Dhoni. You have won a trophy in your first season as captain. Congratulations."

Siya plays along and replies, "Why, thank you Mr Gill. I'm grateful that you took out some time from your busy schedule to watch my match today."

Shubman chuckles lightly, before getting serious and says, "I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world."

Siya smiles and thanks her best friend, before joining her team for the post-match presentation ceremony.

~~~~~~~

The host talks to Meg Lanning first, who praises her opposition for their excellent performance throughout the tournament and especially in the finals.

The many awards like 'Orange Cap' and 'Purple Cap' are all awarded, before the 'Player of the Match' and winning captain is called forward.

The host asks about Siya coming in to bat early even though the target was very much achievable, to which she replies, "That was just for fun and to try to throw Lanning off her game. She's a very good captain and I was sure about her having a game plan ready based on our batting line up, so I decided to shake things up a bit."

After answering a few more questions related to her team's performance, Siya is handed the WPL trophy.

Following in her brother's footsteps, Siya hands the trophy to the young players in her team, before standing in some corner for the team photos.

Ziva dances around in delight after seeing her Bui win a trophy, just like her father, earning chuckles from everyone watching her.

Mahi feels extremely proud, as he watches his little sister achieve great heights in her career.

Harleen then pulls Siya to dance with the youngsters, as they enjoy their triumph.

The coaching staff soon requests the players to get into the bus and continue the celebrations at the team hotel.

The celebrations go on all night long in the hotel and the girls all go home after getting some pictures clicked of the entire team.

Siya even asks her teammates to sign each other's jersey to keep as a souvenir.

~~~~~~~

After the WPL final, both Shubman and Siya are called together for an interview to talk about their recent successes.

After a few cricket related questions, the host asks, "Many people don't know how the two of you met for the first time, so if you two don't mind, can you share the story with us?"

Shubman replies, "We met on the first day of the Under-19 training camp at the NCA. Siya had been given special permission to train with us boys and that's how we met for the first time. We trained together on the first day and later we talked to each other about ourselves. Surprisingly we sort of have a very similar cricket journey and we bonded because of that."

Siya says, "Out of all the boys he was the first one to approach me, even though he was feeling shy and I really liked that about him. Shubi has always supported me from day one and our bond got stronger with time. Both of our families have practically adopted us both as their kids and even they have become really good friends over the years. Shubi's parents make me call them Mumma and Papa like him only now."

Shubman adds, "Just like how Bhaiya and Bhabhi forced me to stop calling them Sir and Ma'am. I used to be really nervous whenever I had to meet them before, but now they're family."

The host asks, "You both haven't actually explained the reason behind your respective jersey numbers before, so would you mind shedding some light on the matter?"

Shubman replies, "Siya's jersey number is 7 because she was born on the 7th of July. My jersey number is 77 because it's my best friend's date of birth. Siya is one of the most important people in my life, plus I couldn't really wear the number 7, even if the number hasn't yet been retired."

Siya adds, "I was quite surprised when he told me the reason for his jersey number. I had tried to talk him out of it because I didn't think it was right, but then Mumma explained to me that Shubi doesn't take any decision very lightly so I shouldn't oppose his decision."

The host then asks, "Well Shubman, many people have spotted you in Ranchi on a regular basis, so is there any specific reason for that?"

Shubman replies, "I like the environment at the stadium in Ranchi, so I prefer to train there, rather than at the academy back home. Plus I also get to spend some time with my best friend because we both have a hectic schedule all around the year."

Siya adds, "We like training together because we learn a lot from each other. Also we mostly train with Bhaiya, which has really helped both of us improve our game."

The host then says, "So there's another thing that we would like to know about. I think Shubman will know about it because the Indore crowd was teasing him about it during a match."

Shubman hides his face, while Siya looks confused and asks, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

The host asks, "You really don't know about the incident? The video had gone viral."

Siya sheepishly replies, "I actually don't check social media very often. Mostly it's Bhabhi who handles my social media accounts."

Shubman says, "Stop making it sound like you have many social media accounts. You're only on instagram."

Siya playfully punches her best friend on his arm, while Shubman rubs the punched area and makes faces.

Shubman then turns back to the host and asks, "Can you just show her the video?"

The host nods in response the soon the video of Shubman being teased by the crowd is played on the screen.

Siya starts laughing when the host asks, "So is there something that you would like to tell your fans?"

Shubman smiles and replies, "Not really, unless there's something specific that you would like to talk about."

The host says, "You both have been seen supporting each other on quite a few occasions, so both of your fans are now wondering if there's something going on between you two. Like, are you two dating?"

Siya shakes her head and replies, "Shubi and I have only been best friends since the beginning. Trust me there's nothing going on."

Shubman adds, "I would like to add that a boy and a girl can be best friends who support each other. They don't have to be in a romantic relationship to support one another."

The host then wraps up the interview and congratulates them once again before bidding them farewell.

~~~~~~~

Sakshi watches the interview and feels that Shubman and Siya might be having some feelings for each other, but they were both unaware of it.

Shubman and Siya come to their hotel room where Sakshi meets them and talks to them about her thoughts.

The best friends get very defensive, claiming that they could never see each other as potential partners.

Sakshi convinces them to give their relationship a chance by going on a date as potential partners because she feels that they could be good for each other.

They were against the idea at first, but later they chose to humour Sakshi and go on a date and talk, only to realise that the lady was right.

Siya and Shubman talk to Sakshi about their fears about being in a relationship because they didn't want anything to ruin their friendship.

Sakshi listens to all the points carefully and replies, "Look, just like you both even Mahi and I went through a similar situation. We were also like best friends before we started dating and soon we even got married. I'll never sugar coat anything, so let me first tell you that this journey is tough. In our case only Mahi had a demanding schedule, but here you both will be equally busy. I know that it will be much more difficult for you two to maintain a healthy relationship, but I also know that you both are strong enough to handle it. You both have been such wonderful friends for so many years, despite the odds and this is a great foundation to build your new relationship on. You shouldn't let go of the chance to have a beautiful relationship just because you both are afraid of things that can go wrong. Just have faith in your friendship and let your relationship grow."

Siya and Shubman understand what Sakshi was trying to explain to them and agree to give their relationship a fair chance.

~~~~~~~

So looks like there's a new couple in town but don't worry they will always be best friends first.

PS: I have no clue as to why Shubman wears the number 77 and it kinda fit for the explanation that I made up, so I haven't changed it.

If anyone knows the real reason, then please do let me know.

Let me know what you guys think ✍🏻

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