Holder's shot on the 4th ball of the last over raced to the boundary with no competition, and SRH was through yet again.
And RCB was eliminated yet again.
A little later than the last three years, but eliminated all the same.
********
As the players shook hands and the losing team trooped to the dugout dejectedly, the captain trudged to give the dreaded 'losing captain' interview.
Now Virat would be honest with himself.
He was playing the victim, but he wasn't—not really. 10th July of last year had been when he'd been the real victim.
It was India. It was Indian cricket, above IPL, always.
Always, thought Virat.
But he could not try to pretend that he had not hoped for the IPL trophy this year. He could not pretend that he was now beginning to think that there was something in the term 'choker' after all.
Take ABD.
He was one of the finest cricketers the world has ever seen, and he not won won a single title anywhere.
Take Dada. He was India's second best (to him, and best to many) captain ever, and he had not won a single title.
Then take Mahi bhai. He had won every kind of title that was available.
Some people are chokers.
Some are not.
It did not take great brainwork to deduce which category Virat himself fell in, he thought glumly.
A choker persisting in captaining the team is just unfair on the team, isn't it? Because RCB did have the potential to win this year.
Just like India had the potential to win the World Cup last year.
What was he doing, really? Captaining two teams with so many die-hard supporters—making them choke—making them cry—
No wonder the media always had it in him specially.
Take Rohit now...
He had won titles, too, just like Mahi bhai. Unlike himself and Dada.
If he cared for Indian cricket, which he certainly did, he might have to take a decision one day soon.
And when the time comes, I will not hesitate, thought Virat fiercely. I will not be the reason India chokes every single damn time anymore.
************
When they reached the hotel, Virat did not make a happy/encouraging speech which he'd done after every match this season when they won/lost respectively.
He just faced his team and spoke shortly.
"I'm sorry."
No one tried to stop him as he dragged his feet to his room, because his team knew how much he had hoped and how disappointed he was at that moment.
The one who knew that best, who also came across as the most immature member of the team, watched him go shrewdly, and turned to Devdutt, who was looking quite petrified.
"He gets like that every time," Yuzi told Dev gently.
"E-every time?" faltered Dev.
"Every time we lose a knockout," said Yuzi, beginning to guide Dev up the stairs by an arm. "That happens a lot, unfortunately, Dev."
Dev was silent till Yuzi pushed him into his room and made him sit down on the sofa. Virat bhaiya would want someone taking care of the kid, Yuzi knew, so why should it not be him?
"Yuzi bhaiya, do you think he's angry with me because I dropped that catch?" stammered Dev after a minute of silence.
"No, Dev, I know he does not," said Yuzi. "He blames himself after every loss, he never blames others. And—" He put an arm around the shivering boy's shoulders and said, "—you didn't drop any catch, you saved 5 runs for the team."
"Virat bhaiya is awfully sad, isn't he, Yuzi bhaiya?"
Now that was one question Yuzi could not give a comforting answer to.
"He'll be ok," he said instead. "You freshen up and go to sleep. We'll talk to him in the morning."
************
Virat was trying to pretend that everything was normal. That was the only thing that worked for him, usually, after these losses.
Pretend that everything is normal.
So like after any normal practice session, he changed out of his jersey and headed for the gym.
Pretend that everything is normal.
Just normal.
***********
Yuzi was woken up in the middle of his nightmare quite rudely. Strangely enough, he'd been having a nightmare about last year's semi-final loss, not today's Eliminator loss. Even more strangely, that had been almost...comforting.
It was not like an Eliminator loss could ever hurt him worse than that semi-final...
He glanced at the phone through half closed eyes and did a double take as he saw 'Rohit bhaiya.'
How could Rohit bhaiya be awake at 3 p.m.?
"Hello, bhaiya, what happened?"
"Where's Virat, Yuzi? He's not been answering calls," said Rohit anxiously.
Yuzi groaned and sat up.
"Maybe he's sleeping?"
"No, I've been calling him over four hours, he can't have slept that early..." said Rohit, adding pleadingly, "Go and check on him once, Yuz."
Ok, Yuzi figured it'd be pretty mean on Rohit bhaiya if he did not go to check on Virat bhaiya. Not to mention that he was feeling slightly disconcerted as well.
"Call you back in a minute, Rohit bhaiya," he said, and got out of his comfortable bed with another groan.
In the corridor, he bumped straight into a thin, tall apparition, and clutched at it instinctively.
The ghost yelled. Evidently he wasn't a ghost, because ghosts didn't yell—and besides, he knew that voice.
"Dev?"
"Yuzi bhaiya?"
"What are you doing, roaming the corridors at this ghostly hour?" demanded Yuzi, groping along the wall to find switch of the corridor light.
"I went to see Virat bhaiya," said Dev, breathlessly. "And he was not in his room. Where is he, Yuzi bhaiya?"
"How am I supposed to know that, you idiot?" Yuzi finally managed find the switch, and as the silver light flooded the surroundings, he saw Dev's face was white and drawn and ghostly.
Instantly feeling remorseful for having taken that tone, Yuzi touched his arm comfortingly and said, "Come on, let's find out."
***********
