But his success wasn’t his own. He had only one person to thank for it – Meera. Her mere existence pushed him to do better. They continued to meet in private to talk about cricket and music and everything in between. When asked about the historic series in England, where the true Indian team announced their arrival on the world cricket stage through an unlikely victory, Abhimanyu would half-jokingly confide to his friends that he had arranged for the series just so he could spend more time with Meera. But the people closest to him knew the truth, and how hard he had worked to try and hustle his way through to the International Cricket Council just to make that series a reality. Although it was an official series, Abhimanyu had poured a fortune from his own pocket to make it happen, just like the first time around with his rebel team. To offset some of the costs, he worked out a deal with Doordarshan to cover the series and sell advertising slots for the radio broadcast. Closer to the start of the series, he was the manager, travel agent, coach and physiologist of the Indian team, all rolled into one. To this day, even when India is the biggest player in world cricket, old-timers reminisce about that tour of England – the trip that started it all. The broadcast deals, preparation camps, logistics and overall performance in the series laid out the blueprint for future dominance. And all of it had Abhimanyu’s signature touch on it.

*

‘I feel this tour is disrupting your life, Meera.’

‘Why would you say that?’

They were in their room, in a separate hotel from where the team was staying. Abhimanyu had spent his last ounce of energy on the eve of the first test, preparing for the biggest day of his life. He felt like sleeping for a week straight, but knew that the shooting pain in his head wouldn’t allow him a single minute of peace. His eye was acting up.

‘I am keeping you away from work. It’s rather selfish of me to do that.’

‘There’s no place I would rather be,’ Meera assured him.