Day 3 – Selective Targeting Drill
Coach Deshmukh stepped onto Field Bravo as 47 players lined up under a hot Bengaluru sun.
No warm welcome today.
> Coach Deshmukh (stern):
"Cricket is no longer about just skill. It's about finding weakness — in yourself and your opponent. Today, you'll face someone who wants to crush you. And tomorrow, you might share a dressing room with him."
Everyone looked around.
This wasn't a match. It was a battle simulation.
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The Rules
BCCI had prepared 10 mini-matches of 5 overs each.
Every match was bat vs bowl: two batters vs a four-man bowling unit.
The twist? Bowlers were secretly given dossiers on the batters' potential weak spots — built from the AI + human analysis of the last two days.
This wasn't practice.
This was hunting season.
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Match 1 – Aryan Raj & Deep Kalra vs Sai Menon, Omkar Shinde, Aman Sheikh, Rajveer Goyal
All four bowlers had been given this:
> "Aryan: Weak against chin music. Shifts back foot too early. Attacks too late on spinners."
They smiled.
Aryan just walked in, same calm face.
Deep Kalra was visibly nervous.
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The First Over
Sai Menon opened with brutal pace — bouncers, yorkers, bodyline.
Aryan dodged, blocked, stepped away, re-centered.
No flashy strokes. Just survival — perfect judgment.
Second over: Omkar Shinde, spinning viciously.
On Ball 3, he floated a tempting loopy off-break.
Aryan advanced, then stepped back and deflected it late past slip.
Four.
The staff watching murmured.
> "He rewrote his weakness in 24 hours."
On the fourth over, Aryan stepped across and scooped a yorker over fine leg.
> Iqbal (watching from distance):
"This guy… plays chess with bat angles."
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Elsewhere – Match 3 Highlights
Laksh Verma tried to go aggressive but was bowled trying a switch-hit.
He screamed into his gloves.
> "They knew every shot I'd try! Who gave them my footage?!"
Meanwhile, Yuvraj Rathore attacked everything — got 38 off 14 but got out to a trap.
> "He's powerful… but predictable," whispered one mentor.
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The Evaluation Room
Players were told nothing.
No ranking, no feedback.
But footage was reviewed by a silent panel:
Virat Kohli
Rahul Dravid
Sourav Ganguly
AB de Villiers
A BCCI Psychologist
> Dravid (reviewing Aryan):
"He doesn't counterattack. He rewrites situations. Most players panic when hunted. He... adapts."
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Room 9 – Nightfall
Inside the "Room of Death":
Laksh sat on his bed, tossing a ball in the air.
Yuvraj shadow-practiced his pull shot repeatedly.
Omkar quietly watched a documentary on Muttiah Muralitharan.
Sai took notes on everyone's patterns.
Aryan? Sitting by the window, sketching a field layout.
Suddenly, Laksh threw the ball at Aryan's bed.
> Laksh:
"You don't talk. You don't react. You don't win big. Why are you still here?"
Aryan looked up. Calmly said:
> "Because I don't play to impress. I play to eliminate."
Room fell silent.
Next: Chapter 6 – The Challenge Round Begins