A/N: If you like the story, rember to give a review. It'll motivate to continue with sa passion ✌️😁
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[RCB Innings: 6.4 Overs | Score: 41/1]
Harbhajan Singh was into his first over.
Gayle was on strike, his eyes narrowed behind his visor.
He was done with the "Rudra-Tax."
Ball 6.5: Harbhajan tossed it up, inviting the big hit.
Gayle didn't hesitate.
He swung with the force of a tectonic shift.
It wasn't a clean connection, but Gayle's raw power sent the ball spiraling high into the night sky, heading toward the Long-on boundary.
"That's massive! That's out of the stadium!" Danny Morrison yelled.
Rudra was stationed at Deep Mid-wicket.
He saw the ball launch.
To anyone else, it was a six.
But Rudra's mind were calculating the trajectory before the ball even reached its apex.
He turned and sprinted, not toward the ball, but toward the "drop zone" near the rope.
He reached the boundary line just as the ball began its descent.
He didn't stop.
He realized he was too far in.
He jumped, his body fully extended, his fingers grazing the cold Bengaluru air.
He caught the ball mid-air, but his montum was carrying him over the rope.
In a fraction of a second, a mont that looked like a glitch in a video ga, Rocket Rudra flicked the ball back into the field of play while his body was completely outside the boundary.
He landed on the grass outside, his heart hamring, and instantly dove back inside, sliding on his chest to grab the ball before it touched the turf.
The stadium went dead silent.
The umpire raised his finger, after communication with third umpire.
Chris Gayle: Out
"I... I have no words, Harsha," Danny Morrison whispered into the mic.
"That is not human. That kid just defied physics. He was three feet outside the rope when he flicked that back. Chris Gayle is walking back, and he's looking at the big screen in pure disbelief."
Even Kohli, at the non-striker's end, stood frozen.
He looked at Rudra, who was standing up and dusting the soil off his chest, his hands trembling.
Rudra didn't celebrate wildly.
He just looked at the ball, then at Kohli.
For a second, the fan-boy in him wanted to apologize, but the athlete in him just threw the ball to the umpire.
___
The rest of the innings moved in a blur of high-intensity cricket.
Despite Rudra's fielding masterclass, RCB's middle order scraped together runs, and AB de Villiers added a late flourish.
[RCB Scorecard: 156/5 (20 Overs)]
Mumbai Indians began the chase.
Ponting and Sachin walked out to a legendary ovation.
The ga swung like a pendulum.
Ponting fought hard for his 28, and Dinesh Karthik played a blinder at the end, but the Bengaluru bowling attack held their nerve.
In the final over, MI needed 10 runs.
The tension was suffocating.
Every ti the ball went toward the boundary, the fans looked for the "Blue Ghost," but Rudra was in the dugout, his job as a sub finished.
[Final Score: MI 154/5 | RCB won by 2 runs]
___
The match was over, but the internet was breaking.
Ravi Shastri held the mic, looking at the caras.
"Usually, the Man of the Match goes to the winning side. But today, we have to talk about a young man who didn't even bat or bowl. Rudra, co over here!"
Rudra walked up, looking small between the legends.
He looked shy, his eyes avoiding the bright lights.
"Rudra, that catch... the analytics say you had 0.2 seconds to decide to flick that ball back. What was going through your head?"
Rudra cleared his throat.
He looked at his wrist for a split second before answering.
"I just didn't want the ball to touch the grass, sir. My coach always said, 'The ground is for your feet, not the ball.'"
In the RCB dressing room, Virat Kohli was seen talking to his coach, pointing at the replay of the catch.
He wasn't angry anymore.
He was genuinely impressed by Rudra tenacity on the field.
____
The mont the match ended, the result almost felt like a footnote.
The broadcast didn't open with Gayle's highlights.
It opened with a 120fps super-slow-motion replay of "The Catch."
The internet didn't just react, it broke.
Within twenty minutes, a clip of the catch had ten million views.
@virendersehwag: "Forget the 2 runs. I want to know what this kid Rudra is eating. Is he human or a spring? That flick back was pure magic! #RCBvMI"
@JontyRhodes8: "I've spent my life at Point. I've never seen a transition from a horizontal dive to a vertical flick that fast. This is the new benchmark. Truly elite."
The "Rocky" : A fan-made edit of Rudra sprinting with a cheetah's shadow behind him went viral instantly, centing the nickna "Rocky Rudra."
___
Back in the Extraaa Innings studio, the Masterclass segnt was entirely dedicated to one player.
Harsha Bhogle: "Look at the fra rate here, Danny. When Gayle strikes the ball, Rudra is already mid-pivot. He isn't reacting to the sound of the bat. He's reacting to the downswing. It's a level of anticipation that shouldn't be possible for an eighteen-year-old."
Danny Morrison: "It's insane, Harsha! We're calling him 'Rocky' because he's as solid as a mountain but moves like a lightning bolt! Look at Kohli's face in the background of this shot. He's the most competitive man on the planet, and even he's just standing there with his hands on his head."
___
Inside the Mumbai Indians' dressing room, the atmosphere was heavy after the 2-run loss, but there was an undeniable electric charge.
Rudra sat in the corner, his jersey caked in red dust, his forearms scraped raw.
He was nursing a bottle of water, his hands still slightly vibrating from the sheer adrenaline dump.
He looked exhausted, not like a superhero, but like a kid who had just pushed his body past its breaking point.
The room went quiet as Ricky Ponting walked in.
The captain looked frustrated by the loss, but he walked straight past the senior stars and stopped in front of Rudra.
"You saved sixteen runs on the field today," Ponting said, loud enough for the whole room to hear.
"In a ga we lost by two, those sixteen kept us alive until the final ball. Most teenagers would have folded under that pressure at the Chinnaswamy."
He put a heavy hand on Rudra's shoulder.
"Get so ice on those hands. You're going to need them."
Across the room, Sachin Tendulkar caught Rudra's eye and gave a slow, deliberate nod of approval.
No words were needed.
For a boy who grew up worshiping these n, that nod felt heavier than a trophy.
___
In the streets of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the loss didn't matter.
People were out on their balconies.
"Did you see our local boy?" was the only question being asked.
Local news channels were already setting up caras outside his cricket academy.
He wasn't just a sub-fielder anymore.
He was a local hero who had stood toe-to-toe with Virat Kohli and didn't blink.
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.
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(A/N: Another chapter coming after 9:30 PM, but please do tell/comnt your preferred ti. So i can understand my readers better and adjust the update timings.🙏)
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