Did you bring the vegetables from the shop? It’s been almost three hours. When will this match going to get over? You hardly leave the television these days. ‘Arjun turned a deaf ear to his mother’s words and stayed glued to the television. India was playing against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final and Dhoni had just tossed the ball to Joginder Sharma. The country was amazed by this decision and Arjun was no exception. Three balls later a lot had changed.
Arjun was a 12 years old boy who had just found a new hero. Born in poor family, he had just cricket and
his mother to keep him going. Malti, a single parent, had learnt that education is the only way to lead a respectable and healthy life. Manoj, father of Arjun, disappeared soon after Arjun’s birth and Malti raised him as a single parent ever since. She worked as a maid and earned enough to pay Arjun’s school fees and get the food on their plates twice a day.
Arjun was aware of the hardships her mother had gone through to bring him up and hence never demanded anything from her mother. The walls of his house were filled with posters of cricket players. Arjun was very fond of playing cricket and adored Dhoni a lot.
He was famous among the locality for perfectly imitating the Helicopter Shot. Some of his friends have seen few of the cricketers and often boasted of the same. Arjun listened to them with rapt attention specially when it came to Dhoni and dreamt of watching him play once.
India was to play England in Arjun’s city and he didn’t want to miss this chance. Even after saving for more than 2 years he didn’t have enough to buy a ticket of the match. Disheartened, Arjun sat outside the stadium the whole day listening to the commentary on the radio. India needed 6 runs of the last ball and had the man for the moment at the crease. Arjun crossed his fingers and closed his eyes as Dhoni swung the bat in full flow and hit the ball out of the ground that broke Arjun’s radio. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His dream had come true.
