After team India failed measurably on their tour to Bangladesh, BCCI called off their tour to Zimbabwe which consisted of 3 ODI and 2 T20 matches. Though there is a broadcast issue, the main reason put in front is the ‘fatigue’ of the players for consistently playing several tournaments. The tour may be pushed to the next year if things get positive.
Here is how the team reacted when the news broke in:
*Dhoni entered the lobby, the team members scattered all around*
“Guys, good news hain”, He flashed his teeth expressing relief. “Come to the team room.”
As everyone gathered around in the room, the leader started off:
“Guys, our butts are saved.”
Everyone curiously waited for the news as MS created a pause of suspense with a grin,
“BCCI is about to call off our Zimbabwe tour.”
“You must be kiddin’ me. I mean, really?” Virat stood up with all his teeth displayed, “Wait I need to inform her about this,” he moves towards the door while calling ‘her’ as MS makes a failed attempt to stop him, “Chikoo, poori baat…”. Virat gestures with a wink “Mahi bhai, samjho na…haan baby, haan lamba chhutti hain…haan planning ka…” he moves out and leaves the door swinging back.
“Anyone else wants to go out?” not much pleased a captain, really.
“No no skipper, we are here only. Say.” Jadeja mewed.
“Hmm, so, BCCI said that we do a lot hard work round the year and don’t get time for ourselves, which is quite true right!”
“Exactly. Thank god they noticed.” Raina added. “We have been playing and playing since 2014. And with IPL knocking at the doorstep, we need to keep ourself rejuvinated. Itne khelte rahe toh woh kaise hoga?”
“Sachchi yaar, Neeta ma’am bhi yehi bolti hain”, Rohit nodded with Raina. Dhawal looked stunned. “But IPL is a year away.”
“Bachche”, Ashwin pronounced like a wise owl, “IPL is eternal. Try and value what makes your life go smooth.” Ashwin retained his eyes-half-closed-calm-and-composed position.
*Dhoni’s phone rang, blinking a picture of Sakshi smiling on the screen. He scratched his head muttering ‘abhi isko kya chahiye?’*
“Guys aya main ek minute mein. I guess Ziva is crying.”
*As he made his way towards the door, Virat came in with his face bowed down8
“Ae Chikoo, what happened yaar?”
“Shooting chal rahi hain yaar uski. She won’t be available.”
“Arreh ! What will you do now? It’s a long time really.”
“Lets see. Will do some promotions of my clothing line up may be. Tu?”
“Ads aye huye hain. Need to talk to my manager. Then Ritika is free for a while, will take her to shopping I guess. Time kaha milti hain humein?”
“Sahi hain yaar. Priyanka bhi bol rahi thi kahi ghumne jane ke bare mein. Let’s make a plan together, whatsay?”
*Dhoni enters. Everyone hushes up*
“so, what I was saying was, as we’ve got time for ourselves, let’s utilise this. We must. We need to improvise every now and then.”
Rahane expectantly asks, ” Are we gonna have practice matches?”
“Bang on!” Dhoni replies, Rahane’s face glows up , others’ gloom.
“But we are given this span to stay out of cricket for some time, to take a break. If we play practice matches they don’t make sense.” Dhawan, the Gabbar, grumbles.
“Who said we are gonna play cricket?” Dhoni smirked.
“Then?” Virat asked making his already round eyes rounder.
*Every guy present there at the discussion room let a sigh of relief when Dhoni pronounced”Has anyone ever played hockey?”*
Happy heroes of Indian cricket left the hotel in the team bus as they joyfully challenged each other about how many goals they alone gonna score and let the others see how potentially dependable they are. Some said, had they got this time off earlier than this ongoing series, India would have won with a record margin.
Meanwhile:
1) In Bangladesh cricket team’s meeting room:
Mashrafe : Guys, can we do a 3-0? I’m sure if we do, this will be a mental boost for us before 2016 WC T20
Team: We will try, and we will succeed.
2) In Zimbabwe Crickets team’s meeting:
Elton Chigumbura: If we don’t get to play together at least a few international matches, it’s gonna be real hard to win any matches in T20 WC I guess.
Team: We will try, don’t worry captain.
Officials : We are still on it, hope they would finally come down for a truncated series, if not full.
3) In a conference call between Gambhir, Nehra, Yuvraj and Harbhajan:
“team fatigue ke karan series chhor rahi hain”
“Hum logo se team banale, hume kyu nahi khelne dete?”
*This article is meant for entertainment and humour. It should be taken in the same spirit.