Abhay’s Doping Test Positive, Banned from International Cricket for Two Years
In the biggest news of the day, the premier fast bowler and spear-head of Indian Pace attack: Abhay Rajput’s doping test came positive today and he has been banned from playing international cricket for two years. Abhay was out with the team India at New Zealand to play 3 Tests and 5 ODIs, when ICC’s Anti-Doping Agency caught him for the Doping Test and it came positive. Abhay accepted that he was taking drugs since last six odd months, first time he took it was ICC Champions Trophy in the carrabian. Abhay was considered to be one of the most promising young player in the country and this act of his has put a black dot against his personality. Though he is just twenty one year old, thus still after completing the two year ban, he can return to the international cricket but will cricket accept him once again? The question remains unanswered and only time can answer that.
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“I am sorry Dada” I was howling like a kid in the arms of Dada, he was caressing my hair slowly and carefully
“Everybody commits mistake, you as well did. But, you made the mistake and only you can correct it. Remember you are just twenty one, after serving two years ban you will only be twenty three, you can come back and you have to. Remember I told you: This Team, This Country, We all, Need you Abby and you have to come back to this dressing room with same fire and pace as before.”
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Cocaine had made me its slave, I was totally into it lastly and when I was caught by the ICC the situation was very much worst, like I had to take daily dosage of it to avoid the side effects of not having it. Now I was caught by the ICC and was restrained from playing, I couldn’t take this at all; I was broken into pieces.
“Abhay, I trusted you so much, I thought you were a fighter and you became the slave of this pathetic thing called cocaine.” Aadhya was all over me, as I entered the bedroom. I guess she was full of anger; since I came in the morning but kept all of it within as Maa was present.
“Inteeerrr..national Cri… Cricket is veeryy much demanding….You woooonnt understaaannd it.” I was stammering, I hadn’t had the coke since more than twenty four hours and it was having its own effects on me.
“So, all others are having it?”
“No”
“Then why you, why?”
“Leaaaaavvvee me alone……….!!” I shouted on my highest volume, Aadhya was stunned by it. Someone from within was stretching each and every nerve of mine, my head was spinning, I felt each and every drop of blood in my nerve system was dried, the whole world around me was spinning, I felt my entrails will come out from my stomach via mouth tearing my lungs down.
Somehow, I got hold of some vase from the table, Bang and it was shattered into pieces, I felt my brain will explode like a bomb, my fists got tightened, I held bed sheet tightly, foam started to come out of my mouth, I started to shout badly, Aadhya was watching all these being a sculpture; she was stunned, She could not believe what she was facing right now; she had never seen such a violent and beast alike dimension of his loving husband, my shouts started to fade away slowly, I begun to calm down a bit, she came down near me held my hands, started caressing my head. I don’t remember anything thereafter.
It had almost become routine of everyday, Maa and Aadhya weren’t allowing me to have Coke and with each day passing I felt like, my death was coming near. I had no appetite; my stomach was rejecting anything inside. I also stopped coming out of my room, I hadn’t shaved for a month or so nor even hair-cut.
“Look at you; what have you done to yourself Abhay?” Aadhya brought the mirror in front of mine, even I wasn’t able to recognize the person in the mirror; eyes had gone deep; even had dark circles beneath, hair were going nowhere, unshaved face looked grimier than normal; The guy in the mirror looked scrawny; I almost had lost eight to ten kilograms.
“Leave me alone.” A deep voice came out from somewhere
“I can’t, I am half of yours, and if one half of yours is in pain other cant remain idle and let it drop in some more pain.” I tried to ignore her, she held my face
“Look into the mirror Abhay, is this the premier fast bowler of the country? Is this the guy who was the scariest person in the world with the bowl in his hand? Is this the guy whom I married? Is this the guy whom I loved? NO……………… Answer to every question is no.” She broke down giving me a tight hug, her tears were rolling down on my shirt, I could hear the pain in her cry. We sat there, crying for almost half an hour. She silently moved out of the room, don’t know why but my legs automatically followed her. I came out in the main room; it seemed it was ages before I had been there. I saw a daily newspaper lying there, I took it, opened the sports page
Tigers at home, nannies away: India lost 4-0 to England in England.
It has been a dreadful English Summer for Indian Cricket Team, after failing to win a single ODI, now they have been whitewashed in the Tests as well. It has been one of the worst performances by men in blue in recent past. More especially Indian Bowling was pathetic; none of the bowler was able to leave his impact on the English men. The fact was evident from the fact that, in none of the four tests Indian Bowlers were able to get all ten English wickets. Even in the batting only The Wall – Dravid shown some resilience; except him it was all disappointment. I know this isn’t the place to talk but, but still India missed its premier fast bowler, Abhay on this tour. I guess, his presence would have made some difference in this pace friendly atmosphere.. …
All of a sudden, someone snatched newspaper from my hand; I saw Aadhya was standing there, tall and confident.
“What?” I calmly asked her, she just took my hand and placed a brand new red ball in my hands, the scene at the Gaikwad sir’s home came flashing in front of my eyes, when I held this bowl for the first time, a sudden quaver passed through my body.
“I need you, we all need you, this team needs you, this country needs you Abby; you have to come back to this dressing room with same fire and pace as before!” Dada’s words echoed into my eardrums; I smiled looking at the ball, then I took my eyes of it and merged them with Aadhya’s, I felt her eyes were glittering, but very next moment I realized, there were tears in there.
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Almost two years left in my ban, but still I was determined to back in the Indian team, at any cost. It wasn’t any easy at all; the most important thing was to get uncontaminated from the effects of the Coke, it took six months in the Rehab to let me go completely uncontaminated. Next big task, was to get back to the best of my fitness level and get ready for the highest level and I choose the place from where it all begun: MRF Pace Foundation.
The first thing I received at the MRF Pace Foundation was a hard slap on my face, by none other than Lillie sir. I felt relieved that very moment; he too.
I was back at my own best; within half year or so. And now I was waiting for the opportunity to sneak into the Indian Team, and get back to bleed blue once again.
“Don’t just wait for the opportunity, grab it and make the most out of it.” Suddenly increased volume of the television grabbed my attention; some sexy girl exposing half her body was announcing this; I didn’t got what she was advertising; Sanu was sitting there with remote in his one hand and beer bottle in another.
“Sanu, can I please sleep? Thoda sa kam kar de yaar……..!” Even I knew, I wasn’t going to sleep, but I wanted to think incessantly.
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“Hey Abby, you seem a bit down!” Aadhya came in with a nice cup of warm tea; she was looking beautiful in her bottle green saree. The volatility in her eyes was a bit settled now, but still they were ruthful, I kept on glaring at her.
“Six months have passed since completion of my ban; still there are no signs of positivity from selectors’ side.”
“You have worked hard, now just wait don’t get impatient. Have faith on your own luck.”
“Luck….! It has been strange yet inseparable portion of my career so far, let’s see, what it has in store for me…!”
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First T20 World Cup: Indian Seniors Steps down, Says send Young legs.
All Indian seniors pros; including Sachin, Dada and Dravid had withdrawn themselves from the first ever T20 World cup, asking to send in the young legs for the shortest format of the game. The leadership has been trusted upon the young shoulders of the wicketkeeper batsman: MS Dhoni. Another surprise was recall of the fast bowler Abhay Rajput to the team, his inclusion was the result of shoulder injury to Indian spear head Zaheer Khan and out of form Irfan Pathan I guess. He was out due to positive Doping test two years back, this will be his first international tournament after it. Let’s hope he can create the same impact on his comeback, which he made in the past.
Indian Squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Utthapa, Yuvraj Singh (VK), Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK & C), Rohit Sharma, Irphan Pathan, H. Singh, P.Chawla, S. Sreesanth, Abhay Rajput, Yusuf Pathan, S. Badrinath, Joginder Sharma.
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“And the India creates the history, team India, the champions of the first ever T20 world cup.” I wondered how it was always Ravi Shastri on every good moment for India, was it only the co-incidence or he was the lucky charm of Team India.
“And now is the time for the Man of the Match, it was a gripping final and we had some wonderful performances from both the sides; but in the end it was the spell of four for sixteen, which made the difference from the mighty quick Abhay Rajput. Ladies and gentleman: Abhay Rajput; man of the match for the night.”
I took the Man of the Match medallion from a middle aged, South African Cricket Board official, thousands of cameras flashed, my eyes weren’t used to these many cameras since a while now, they were forced to go close, next day newspapers published my photograph with the eyes closed.
“You did it Abby, you did it.” Aadhya was esthetic on the call
“You were the force who made me do it.” I didn’t wanted to divulge the tears in my eyes to her, but she got me, even on the call. We stayed silent on the call for a while.
That was the day; I never looked back since then; Never ever.
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“A Really bad news coming out on the very first day of the World Cup, Indian Captain MS Dhoni has fractured his left hand in the practice. There were lots of expectations from the Mahi & his ever cool leadership in this world cup at the home but now he won’t be the one leading Team India. Parthiv Patel was made as the replacement of him in the side and in place of injured Dhoni, Indian team will now be led by the rookie fast bowler: Abhay Rajput. We have the chief selector Krish Shrikant here with us; so what is your reaction on this Kris?”
“O this really is a very very bad incident and we all will miss Mahi very badly in this all important tournament. Not only was his leadership but his batting was also the important factor for Indian Victory in this world cup, but we can’t prevent accidents. So, I wish him a quick recovery.”
“What is your comment on Abhay Rajput leading the team?”
“Oh, he has been part of this team since a while now. He has been superb for team India with bowl, he has a very good cricketing brain and we all hope that he and team India do all the good in this world cup at home, to bring it back home.”
“So this was Chief Indian selector, giving us valuable inputs on the current Indian Team scenario in the world cup; we only hope weather it is Mahi or Abby; world cup should come to India only, camera person Ajay ke sath, Santosh; Aaj Tak.”
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The atmosphere of the dressing room was heavier than the normal; everyone was busy following their pre-match superstitious rituals; I was sitting in front of my locker, looking at the picture of Lord Shiva, given by Maa, years before when I made my debut; I still had it in my locker. It was a huge day, we were playing the World Cup finals against the Lankans, the occasion had come after twenty-eight years to bring the glory back to the country.
“It has been all luck, you were into the game due to luck, into the team due to luck, got back into the team due to luck, into the leadership also due to luck. This is the time to prove to your luck that you deserved all of it, you have had so far. This is the time to prove to your own self that you were worthy recipient of that luck, go ahead and snatch that trophy. The worst is just behind you, it isn’t coming any further.” I was almost shouting within, as the National Anthem begun, I had a mysterious glint in my eyes, saluting the Tri-Color.
“Team India – The World Champions after twenty eight years..!” I suddenly woke-up, I saw myself rushing to the ground, tightly hugging each and every men in blue, I saw myself crying, I saw myself lifting the trophy on the 32” LCD, I checked, my eyes were wet even now. In a while bulletin ended, I closed my eyes, Sanu switched the TV off, and carefully went out of the room.
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It was a lovely evening; I was here at the Somanth for taking the blessings of the Somnath Mahadev, one of the Twelve Jyotirlings across the country for helping us to win this World-Cup. Believe me, if you wanna find peace, there will be a few better places than Somnath. I was standing in the back yard of the huge temple premises, nice melody of rise and fall of waves of the ocean was soothing. Air was moisten, serenity was in the atmosphere, birds were returning to their nests with the food for their children, sun was looking huge, it was about to get dissolved in the water of ocean, the ocean was calm-headedly accepting the surrendering sun within it, nice breeze was flowing from the ocean, taking all the negativity away from me. With every moment passing, I was feeling more and more tranquil and unruffled. The very important thing I learned standing out here; the answer to every question, problem lies within us. If we can’t find peace and happiness there, it’s not going to come from outside.
“The Worst is just behind me, it isn’t coming any further.” I stretched my arms and shouted but my voice got diluted in the air as chanting in the temple begun:
Bum Bum Bhole, Bum Bum Bhole,
Bum Bum Bhole, Bum Bum Bhole……..
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