Seon Yul, glancing behind him, tapped his bat, looking ahead as Aaron delivered the ball, "Hypnotic gaze!"
A flicker of light hit Seon Yul's eyes, and he immediately backed off, disturbed. "What?" He abruptly opened them to find the ball spinning towards the off stump. To defend his wicket, he raised his bat to play a low shot but instantly edged it towards the slip cordon.
"Now, Azazel, catch!" Aaron's voice resounded in his mind as Azazel immediately dived low and caught the ball in his hands, raising it high from the ground.
A momentary silence followed, then, "YES!!" the entire field erupted in sheer joy.
"We did it! Well done, Aza!" Feng ruffled his hair proudly.
Azazel, still stiff and in disbelief of what he had done, remained on the ground.
"Aaron steamed in! Bowled a good length delivery just outside off. Seon Yul stretched forward for a defensive shot, but there was a faint edge! The ball flew towards the slip cordon, and Azazel at second slip dived to his right—what a spectacular catch!" Jones commented.
"He takes it inches off the ground! That's brilliant reflexes and anticipation. The crowd erupts as the umpire raises his finger. Another wicket falls, and the fielding team is jubilant. What a crucial breakthrough!" Wasim continued, clapping his hands proudly.
"Han Seon Yul, speechless yet smiling, heads back to the pavilion with support and applauses on 65/34, a spectacular knock!!" Maaz added.
"Wow." David, twirled his flute on his finger impressed, "He has improved quite a lot since our last meeting."
"I agree. While, Azazel Minhas for a first year sure is sharp as well." Milan added.
Haitam smiled silently.
Sitting in the reserved stand and witnessing the match behind the glass, Ahmed clenched his fists in excitement. "Yes! Way to go, Aza!" he said.
Hoor gasped, jumping up from her seat, her pride and joy evident. Haris smiled, gently rubbing her shoulders in delight.
Azher, however, glanced at the three of them with a serious expression.
Meeting his gaze, Hoor quickly apologized, relaxing a bit. "Sorry, Father."
Azher looked ahead, remaining detached. "No matter," he replied.
Haris offered Hoor a reassuring smile.
....
"Finally," Elias exhaled.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Adam, Mikael, and Noah jumped in exhilaration.
Alan agreed while Haruf clapped his hand against Ren's.
"So cool, Aza!" Heber ruffled his hair while Azazel giggled, standing up.
Aaron smiled as Isa clapped his hand. Kazuna patted Helios's shoulder in encouragement.
"But how did you know he would get out on the next delivery, Senior Aaron?" Poseidon asked astonished.
Aaron, scratching his temple, looked away. "You see… ah…" he tried to evade the question.
"The hundred-million-dollar reply is that he's gone! Finally," Aigou interrupted with a deep breath.
Aaron, smiling, headed back.
Poseidon glanced at his back in wonder.
Kazuna, noticing his curiosity, replied, "It's Aaron's prediction. By using hypnotism and confusing the opponent. He delivers variations of spins and tries to find a flaw in their batting. He first tried to find Rovan's however, because of him being a spin returning specialist and even the user of 'Eye of Evidence' Aaron couldn't break through him, so Seon Yul was that one who met all his demands."
"Oh." Poseidon replied.
"Hey, did he talk to you in your head too, Poseidon?!" Azazel asked curiously.
"Talked in my head…?" Poseidon repeated confused.
"I heard him." Xavier replied.
"He is a telepath on field. If you hear his voice inside your head that means it is him." Aigou told.
Heber, Helios and Ryan looked at each other bewildered.
"He can talk to us inside our brains…?" Ryan confirmed with a gulp.
"Affirmative." Isa replied, going back to his position.
Seon Yul, heading back, was met by Venus who immediately embraced him, brimming with bliss. "What is it…?" Seon Yul asked, confused.
Venus looked up, a twinkle of mirth in his eyes. "YOU WERE SO COOL! I'm going to rock the stage in the same way, just you wait, Senior Han!" he declared fiercely, heading out.
Seon Yul blinked and walked ahead to the pavilion where Romeo and Juhan clapped, and Ibn Sena waved along with Emaad, Wasim, Hamza, and the rest.
"That was a wonderful knock," Hamit remarked, patting his fist.
Seon Yul set his bat and helmet aside, looking at the cheering crowd and the glistening pitch. "Yeah… I had the best time of my life out there," he replied earnestly.
Romeo handed him a sports drink pleased.
"Next, we have Venus Raafi, entering as Islamabad's fifth batsman…" Wasim commented.
Floodlights shining high, Aaron who conversed with Feng behind the wicket keeping wicket, glanced at Venus who came to the field, with only his gloves and pads on.
"He didn't wear his gear properly again…" Rovan exhaled speechless, "Why doesn't Romeo say anything."
Aaron walked passed Venus going back to the popping crease.
Tapping on the crease, Venus's gaze followed Aaron as he said, "For a 'Tenth' Ranker of Karachi's base to send our top third back to the pavilion you really are something."
Aaron smirked glancing behind, his eyes swirling green, he replied, "Then you'd better remain cautious too~"
Feng gulped looking away, "Don't look, don't look. He might come in your head anytime."
Venus however, blinked his eyes, confused. "His eyes… are swirling?" he thought slightly alerted. "Is he using an ability…? Am I affected?!" he thought, shrugging his shoulders clueless yet concerned, however immediately pushing his thoughts away he murmured, "I don't care though. I just don't want to get out… Ibn Sena and that golden brown haired boy will definitely laugh at me." He glanced at Xavier with a momentary pout.
Aaron delivering the last ball of the over, aimed for a googly. Venus however, immediately stopping the ball with the front foot defense stood straight.
All eyes on him, he blinked confused, "What?"
"Oh ho~" Aaron chanted grabbing the ball from the pitch and tossing it back to the umpire. His expression carrying a hint of amusement.
Venus stood confused.
"He is a bit of an airhead and has that Devil-may-care attitude, so hypnotism won't work on him." Rovan said to Aaron.
Aaron shrugged unfazed replying, "It doesn't matter. I am done."
Islamabad accumulating 109 runs at the loss of 3 wickets and run rate of 9.08.
Kazuna, took the next over readjusting the fielding positions while Rovan and Venus swapped their batting positions.
"For a moment I thought Senior Aaron was trying to take his wicket as well." Ryan said walking towards Deep Extra Cover.
Xavier nodded, "From what I observed, he did try to take it but Venus deflected Senior Aaron's hypnosis."
"I agree…" Helios added, "Senior Aaron's gaze prompts the batsman to make mistakes however, Venus, despite looking in his eyes remained composed."
"I think… he might be immune." Xavier guessed.
Ryan exhaled in disbelief, "One problem went, and here comes another."
Helios and Xavier standing on Long on and Long off respectively, Heber covered the Deep Square Leg with Aaron and Poseidon on Third man and Fine leg. Inside the circle, with Isa on his usual mid-off position, Azazel and Aigou took Point and Cover respectively.
"Venus Raafi, a 3rd year middle schooler, a right handed offensive off spin bowler as well as a spin returner. It is said that due to his air headedness most mind triggering abilities used on him are nullified due to his nature. That's the reason he and Ibn Sena are neck to neck rivals. I bet Aaron is going to feel challenged." Nagi told.
"I doubt it, though." Haruf disagreed with a smile.
Ren agreed sharing a glance with Elias, "Yeah, I am with Haruf if he says so."
The starting of the 13th over, Kazuna grabbed the ball in his right hand and delivered an out swinger, as Rovan reading the delivery struck it towards the cover taking two runs.
"Kazuna isn't using his left hand." Zachariah realized.
"I was about to ask the same thing." Orion glanced at Nagi.
"Is his left hand still injured?" Alan asked sternly.
Nagi shook his head, "No, he is completely fit, is what his medical health records show. I am unaware about the rest."
Rauf snickered mockingly, "For a world ranker like him to use his dominant hand in a match like this? You all look down on him."
"Don't be so quick to judge, Rauf. Kazuna respects all his opponents," Senri retorted with a sharp smile, his eyes reflecting his displeasure. "And as someone who was the reason he got hurt in the first place, you don't have the right to comment."
Rauf grinned infuriated.
Elias interjected with a sigh, "He must have his reasons. Let's not get into a disagreement over this now."
The middle schoolers however, looked at each other slight awkwardly yet blasé.
As the last ball of the over was delivered, ending with a dot return, the scoreboard showed Islamabad at 114/4, with singles and doubles contributing to their total.