Beginning of The End

ravibhai

"There's my boy." Came Ravi bhai's cheerful voice when he saw Virat trudging towards him and he pulled him in a hug for the second time that day.

And this time Virat quickly put his arms around him, giving him one tight squeeze because he knew his words would fail him if he tried to speak then.

Rishab looked at them with a strange expression and turned towards Rohit with a raised eyebrow, asking him silently if he was the only one finding it strange. But the confused expression on Rohit's face assured him he wasn't.

Virat was the most expressive out of them all. The man wore his heart out on his sleeve for everyone to see. But clinging to Ravi bhai this much was strange, even for Virat's stature of PDA.

"You're not planning to go all sappy on me, are you?" Ravi bhai joked loudly as they pulled away and Virat rolled his eyes at the familiar teasing tone of his voice while it rose a round of laughter from everyone.

Why was his heart feeling so heavy though?

He thought miserably as he cleared his throat and looked around the room. Before he could do anything his eyes caught Rohit who was looking at him with an expression of urgency. And suddenly Virat remembered what they had planned earlier.

A few minutes later the two men were standing in front of Ravi bhai with their bats in their hands. "What you've done for us, from tackling the Australian board head-on to arranging Diwali parties in the bio-bubble." Everyone chuckled at his words.

"The brand we've built together as a team, the game we're known for today- it wouldn't have been possible if not for you. And we know nothing is ever going to be enough to express how grateful we are, so this is a small token from our side to you."

The boys clapped in unison as Rohit completed his words and the support staff smiled over as the two of them handed their bats to their head coach.

Ravi bhai let out a chuckle and took the bats in his hand silently, giving them a twirl before looking around with a grin. "When I'd taken this job up I didn't have many things I wanted to achieve, just a few."

"I had said that I'd consider myself a failure if Rohit Sharma does not become a successful test player in my tenure. And look," His eyes twinkled as he looked at Rohit whose face had turned red all of a sudden. "India's highest-ranked Test batsman."

The dressing room was once again filled with roars of applause with Hardik being the loudest out of all. Ishan and Rahul were hollering while Rishab and Deepak banged on the desks loudly.

Rohit looked away embarrassedly and rubbed his face, "Stop it guys." He groaned while Ravi bhai laughed in amusement.

"And the other," Ravi bhai continued as the uproar in the dressing room had calmed down after a few seconds. He looked beside Rohit to connect his eyes with the man in context but stopped when he found the spot empty.

He scanned the room and frowned when he realized that the captain had disappeared.

"And what's the other thing bhai?" Ashwin quipped from his spot beside the locker and Ravi bhai realized that everyone was looking at him curiously. None of them seemed to have noticed the missing person yet.

"Nothing else." Ravi bhai settled with a wide grin and thumped Rohit's back hard enough to make him lose his balance. The room was once again filled with laughter as Rohit wobbled on his feet.