None of the individuals in Abhimanyu’s team matched up to their counterparts in the national team. However, through Abhimanyu’s genius, the sum of its parts was greater than a seasoned team where players only played for themselves. Through instinct and research, he knew how to put together a team that could usurp the national star players. The unit was so strong that Abhimanyu could have launched his own team that could have beaten the Indian side on any given day. The story of the underdog had such a pull that any country would have hosted them to attract the crowds, since it was a phenomenon that stood to benefit all involved. That was what Ranjit Singh was alluding to. But to his surprise, Abhimanyu had no such intentions. Later that night, he alluded to approaching the Indian cricket board to negotiate a deal.

‘You are missing the trick here, Abhimanyu, don’t give up on this opportunity!’

Yet somehow Abhimanyu was able to convince Ranjit Singh to go with his plan.

‘I know it’s just a game, but I don’t want to play the smallest part to fracture an Indian governing body – sports or otherwise,’ he confessed to Meera on their last night in London. Yet again, their time together, time they were only able to spend when out of India, had come to an end. They took separate flights back to Bombay, and Abhimanyu entered a tough series of negotiations with the BCCI. With the stellar results of the rebel team under his belt coupled with a solid art of persuasion he had picked up while fighting with wily politicians on the campaign trail, he was able to get a seat at the negotiating table with the Congress leadership – the ruling party that had a big say in the country’s sports agenda, especially in a sport handed down by their erstwhile colonial masters. And as fate would have it, sitting right across the table from Abhimanyu was the chief bureaucrat in charge of making a decision, his sister, Avantika.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26