The Retirement - The 2014 saga

MS had slipped away from the hotel at the first chance, the walls were closing in on him and he had felt a rather unusual sense of suffocation. He had had to skilfully avoid his team members, mainly the younger ones, most of whom were loitering in the area around his room.

He knew that all of them were hesitating yet desperately wishing to have a conversation with him and were yet unable to make themselves knock on his door. He had been caught by Rohit (One Rohit Sharma), but the child had been too busy trying to hide his teary eyes from his Captain...Ex-Captain in Test Cricket as of now; MS would have to look in on him once he manages to return back to the hotel.

"More Coffee sir?"

MS nodded at the waitress absently, taking care to keep his face averted. It was not very likely that he will be identified immediately at Melbourne, but he wanted to avoid any unnecessary interactions. His phone buzzed again; it was Yuvraj now.

MS had already fielded calls from most of the people he had played with, more prominently from Sourav Dada, Sachin Paaji, Rahul sir, Bhajju Pa, Virendra Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and others. MS had been expecting Yuvraj's call and could not outrightly ignore his friend.

"What have you done?"

MS chuckled on hearing the indignant words of one Yuvraj Singh as soon as the call was connected.

"What you lost your freaking mind? And why aren't you picking up anybody's phone? Has all the head injuries you received, finally addled your brains?"

"What?" MS tried hard to hide the laughter in his voice; Yuvi would be furious. "You are not making any sense, Yuvraj sir... I mean Sir Yuvraj."

There was a scoffing sound from the other end. "Will you ever be serious, Mahi?" Yuvraj sounded exasperated.

"Oi, I am always serious. Just ask anyone." MS had to suppress his laughter, yet again.

There was a long pause and MS was about to prompt when Yuvraj asked, "How are you, Mahi?" His voice was subdued and even somewhat troubled. "Dada and Sachin Paaji are very worried... As am I..."

MS felt the faint stirrings of guilt and distractedly scratched his head. The waitress had since refilled his coffee and he had another sip of the piping hot beverage. "I will call them, Yuvi. Please tell them that all is fine."

"Then why are you sitting in a rundown café, and that too in the rain?"

"I am not sitting in the rain!" MS replied indignantly. "There is a Bistro Blind overhead! And the café is fine, the coffee is pretty great. And why are you tracking me? It is illegal!"

Yuvraj let out a loud laugh from the other end, making MS wince; his poor ear. "I am not tracking you, you idiot! Rohit saw you while you were leaving the hotel and kept an eye on where you went."

"He is following me?" MS did not know whether to be angry or exasperated. He had thought that he had successfully given Rohit the slip.

He tried to look through the rain which was now falling all the more heavily. The drizzles were wetting his face but there was something extremely refreshing about it. "Where is he?" MS asked again.

Yuvraj continued to laugh and it was a while before he stopped. "My dear Mahi! Rohit just followed you to see exactly where you were and then returned back to the hotel. However could you think that he would invade your privacy?"

"Didn't he already?" MS knew that he sounded sceptical but it was more for show than anything.

"No. He acted responsibly. For once." Yuvraj laughed out again before sobering up and repeating his question. "Are you okay, Mahi?"