12th Man to Cricket Legend

Author’s Note:🏆

Hey everyone! Before we jump into today’s chapter, I just wanted to say a massive thank you for reading. Your votes, comments, and support mean the world to me. Happy reading! 💖

.

.

.

If you like the story, remember to give a review. It’ll motivate me to continue with same passion ✌️😁

And, Extra love to some readers who are supporting me ❤️

******

(A/N: Don’t blame me guys. This was all experiments I did at that time when I was just starting. Blame Gautama for ruining our mindsets. That’s why I’m posting these much chapters. As for those who who don’t like RCB or supports different teams, I don’t know what to say 🤣. Both chapters are actually 4 chapters combined. ✌️😂)

The humidity at Eden Gardens had thickened into a physical entity—a damp, heavy shroud clinging to the soaked jerseys of the players and the skin of sixty-six thousand spectators.

Under the gargantuan banks of floodlights, the air formed a hazy cocktail of river-mist drifting off the Hooghly and the charcoal smoke of street-side chulhas burning outside the stadium walls.

Yet inside this pressurized cauldron, the singular fire burning was the total incineration of the Kings XI Punjab bowling attack.

The giant electronic scoreboard—a glowing monolith piercing the Kolkata darkness—projected a ledger of absolute, unmitigated carnage:

QUALIFIER 1: RCB RUN CHASE

RCB 125 / 0 (12.0 Overs)

Target: 170

Rocky Rudra 67* (34b)

Chris Gayle 58* (38b)

Required 45 runs needed from 48 balls to advance to the Final.

…

Royal Challengers Bangalore were dismantling the target of 170 with cold efficiency, turning a high-stakes Qualifier 1 into a brutal exhibition of power-hitting.

The arithmetic had devolved into a pure formality. In any normal fixture, this juncture demanded caution, for Rocky Rudra and Chris Gayle, it represented merely the beginning of the end.

The sound pulsing through the stands had mutated from cheering into a visceral vibration rattling plastic seats and the bones of anyone stationed near the sight-screen.

The relentless “RCB! RCB!” chant rolled in waves like a tribal war cry. Every dot ball felt like a fleeting stay of execution, while every boundary served as a hammer blow crashing against the morale of the Punjab faithful.

Inside the KXIP dugout, the tension suffocated the air. Coaches and substitutes sat frozen in stunned disbelief, struggling to reconcile reality with the scoreboard.

Up in the VIP boxes, Preity Zinta remained motionless, fingers locked tightly beneath her chin, eyes darting anxiously between the center square and the glowing numbers overhead.

Along the mid-wicket boundary, George Bailey—normally the most jovial skipper in the league—paced restlessly, his face flushed and brow furrowed as he shuffled his bowling resources like a desperate commander trying to plug a failing dam.

At the non-striker’s end, nineteen-year-old Rocky Rudra was a portrait of relentless, kinetic energy.

Eschewing any caricature of a calm predator, he operated as a live wire crackling with electricity.

As Chris Gayle marked his guard for the start of the thirteenth over, Rocky was shadow-practicing drives in the crease, the custom Kookaburra Kahuna whistling sharply through the thick air.

His RCB jersey was streaked with Kolkata red soil from a desperate, full-length dive earlier in the innings, sweat pouring down his spine.

He refused to let the intensity drop. Fixing his gaze on Gayle, he barked a sharp, encouraging shout across the strip.

“Keep pushing, Chris! Do not let them breathe for a second! Kill this right here!”

His batting gloves slammed together with a resounding thwack audible across the inner ring.

Whenever a single or double materialized, Rocky exploded out of his crease with an aggressive, predatory hunger, driving the thirty-four-year-old West Indian to match his pace.

“Two! Two! Push, Chris!” his voice echoed razor-sharp across the pitch.

____

In the Commentary Box

High above the roar, the legendary voices of the broadcast were exhausting their vocabularies trying to capture the slaughter.

Ravi Shastri: “It’s a massacre in the City of Joy! One hundred and twenty-five for no loss! I have witnessed extraordinary opening partnerships in my time, but this… this is pure psychological warfare. Look at the strike rate of the youngster! Sixty-seven off thirty-four deliveries! He is striking at nearly two hundred, and he has not even broken a single bead of sweat!”

Danny Morrison: “He’s an absolute firecracker, Ravi! Kaboom! Every single time leather meets willow, that ball stays hit! And look into his eyes, man! He is staring down Mitchell Johnson—a nineteen-year-old rookie locking eyes with one of the fiercest fast bowlers on the planet, daring him to run in again! This is nothing new! They have an old rivalry back in Dubai! It is completely unreal though!”

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “It’s the body language, lads. The kid is driving this entire freight train. He’s keeping Gayle on his toes, shouting, fist-pumping after every single run. He understands that even in this position, a moment of complacency breeds pressure. He wants this fixture sealed inside the next four overs. He refuses to wait!”

___

The Twelfth Over: The Tipping Point

The twelfth over, entrusted to the left-arm spin of Axar Patel, became the absolute structural breaking point for Kings XI Punjab.

Axar stood at the top of his mark, chest heaving under the humid Kolkata air, knowing the game was slipping away ball by ball.

At the striker’s end, nineteen-year-old Rocky Rudra settled into his trademark open stance, his eyes locked onto the spinner’s fingers.

11.1: Axar Patel to Rocky Rudra

Axar attempted to dart it in flat and fast, but under immense pressure, he missed his length by a fraction of an inch. Rocky stayed low with predatory balance, bringing down a brutal, flat-batted punch through extra cover. The ball did not merely travel across the turf—it vanished like a fired rocket, crashing into the boundary boards.

FOUR RUNS.

Danny Morrison: “Flat-batted and fierce! He hit that with the middle of the bat and absolute venom! That ball was smoked!”

11.2: Axar Patel to Rocky Rudra

Sensing the bowler’s immediate panic, Rocky dropped the ball softly into the leg side and exploded out of his crease. He sprinted with frantic, aggressive energy, sliding his bat aggressively into the turf with a sharp thud to complete a rapid single.

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “Look at the wheels! He’s never standing still, always putting maximum pressure on the fielders!”

11.3: Axar Patel to Chris Gayle

Fired up by the youngster’s relentless intensity, Chris Gayle cleared his front leg with terrifying authority. Meeting the flighted delivery beneath the lights, the Universe Boss launched a colossal, trademark maximum that sailed high and deep into the second tier of the packed stands.

SIX RUNS.

Danny Morrison: “TIMBER-YARD! That has been deposited into the stratosphere! Gayle-force winds are tearing Eden Gardens apart!”

11.4: Axar Patel to Chris Gayle

Axar dragged his length back, offering a flatter trajectory. Gayle punched it down toward long-off for a clean, rotating single, keeping the machine moving.

Danny Morrison: “Tick goes the scoreboard. Relentless execution from the openers.”

11.5: Axar Patel to Rocky Rudra

Rocky was back on strike. Shunning any notion of a safe, conservative stroke, he stepped into a grounded, classic Ponting-style pull shot. He connected with such terrifying force that the impact echoed across the oval like a gunshot.

The ball pierced the gap between mid-wicket and long-on with ruthless precision.

FOUR RUNS.

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “What a stroke! That sounded like a cannon going off! Absolute textbook execution under extreme heat!”

11.6: Axar Patel to Rocky Rudra

Axar hurried the final delivery through quicker on the stumps, producing a defensive dot ball. But Rocky refused to walk away. He stood tall at the crease, fixing Axar in an unblinking, chilling stare while adjusting the grille of his helmet with a sharp flick of his wrist—a silent, suffocating challenge. Dot ball.

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “And a dot to close out the over, but look at the man! He’s staring straight down the bowler’s soul. That is supreme psychological dominance!”

…

On the field, the smell of the game was overwhelming, the scent of linseed oil from the bats, the salty tang of perspiration, and the faint, sweet smell of the grass being crushed under the players’ spikes.

Rudra’s Kookaburra Kahuna was a workhorse. Every time it met the ball, the sound was pure—a wooden thwack that signaled the ball was bound for the ropes.

He treated the 150 km/h thunderbolts of Mitchell Johnson not with respect, but with a calculated, aggressive contempt.

When the players took a quick drink after the 12th over, Rudra didn’t sit.

He stood in the middle of the pitch, talking animatedly to Gayle, pointing at the gaps, his chest heaving but his eyes wide and burning.

He looked over at Virat Kohli in the dugout, who was standing on the edge of the boundary, shadow-batting every ball with him.

The synergy between the captain and the Wolf was palpable, they were cut from the same aggressive cloth.

___

The r/Cricket thread was exploding.

The “Sepoy Syndrome” was being dismantled in real-time.

u/Deer_Roar: “Look at Rudra. He’s not waiting for the bowlers to make a mistake. He’s forcing them into errors. This is the New India we’ve been waiting for. No more ‘polite’ cricket. We want to crush you.”

u/Punjabi_Dosa: “It’s the aggression that’s killing us. Even when they don’t hit a boundary, they’re running like their lives depend on it. Rudra is a maniac on the pitch. He’s 19! Where does he get this much fire?”

u/Bangalore_Believer: “125/0. I never thought I’d see the day RCB looked this clinical in a playoff game. Rudra 67*, Gayle 58*. This isn’t a chase, brothers. It’s a victory lap.”

u/Pele_The_GOAT: “I’m sure that fans here can’t relate to that atmosphere, that mountain like pressure. Some must be feeling like, ‘Why is he shouting?’ ‘A kid teaching the Universe Boss how to bat?’ Mates, coming from a former cricketer, I have played district level… There’s a reason why RCB got a tag of choker. They choked from impossible situations too many times. Rudra shouts and his aggressive intensity is affecting both his teammate and the opposition. Gayle would have thrown away his wicket under that pressure if not for Rudra… If you still can’t accept it, then you’re not a true cricket fan. ✌️”

___

As the umpire called for play to resume for the 13th over, Rudra went back to non striker end.

The lights caught the sweat on his forehead, making him look like a gladiator under the Roman sun.

He tapped the bat twice, checking the pitch, looking for crack.

He was like a storm in a red jersey, and he was ready to finish the hunt.

“Forty-five runs, Chris,” Rudra yelled, his voice cracking with the intensity of the moment.

“Let’s get them in thirty balls. No mercy!”

The crowd’s roar reached a pitch that felt like it would tear the roof off the stadium.

The hunt was entering its final, most brutal stage.

___

The humidity hanged over Eden Gardens like a saturated sponge, the air tasting of river-salt and the sharp, metallic tang of adrenaline.

Under the relentless glare of the floodlights, the emerald turf looked almost artificial, a stage set for a foregone conclusion.

The “RCB! RCB!” chant had become a physical pulse, a rhythmic thumping that synced with the heartbeat of every fan in the stands.

Mitchell Johnson stood at the top of his mark, his face a mask of sweat-streaked frustration.

He wiped the ball on his trousers, the stain of the Kolkata soil looking like a battle scar.

Match Situation:

Current Score – 125/0 (12.0 Overs)

Target – 170

Runs Needed – 45

Balls Remaining – 48

Required Rate – 5.63 rpo

___

The Thirteenth Over

The field had been pushed back to the boundary ropes. George Bailey had stationed a deep square leg, a long-on, a long-off, and a deep cover, desperately attempting to seal the perimeter.

Yet, the gap between point and cover still looked tantalizingly wide.

12.1: Mitchell Johnson to Chris Gayle — ONE RUN

Johnson charged in, his left-arm action a blur of violence. He hurled a searing, 147 km/h delivery aimed straight at the ribs. Gayle, looking visibly drained with his jersey clinging to his massive frame, simply tucked it off his hip toward fine leg—a weary but effective stroke.

Ravi Shastri: “He’s just nurdling it now, Danny! The Big Man is feeling the heat, the humidity is sapping his strength, but he has done the heavy lifting. He hands the baton to the Young Wolf!”

Gayle 59* (39 balls)

12.2: Mitchell Johnson to Rocky Rudra

Rudra took his open stance, his eyes burning through the visor. As Johnson released a thunderbolt clocked at 142 km/h, Rudra did the unthinkable. He didn’t wait, he immediately charged down the track, meeting the ball on the rise to neutralize the bounce, punching it firmly back past the bowler.

It was a terrifying display of sheer confidence. Dot ball.

Danny Morrison: “DID YOU SEE THAT?! He’s stepped out to Mitchell Johnson! It’s absolute madness, it’s sheer bravery, it’s… it’s Rocky Rudra! He’s telling the fastest bowler in the world that his pace is completely irrelevant!”

12.3: Mitchell Johnson to Rocky Rudra

Johnson, visibly rattled, tried to follow Rudra by bowling a wider, fuller delivery. Rudra, showcasing elite Ponting-esque balance, shifted his weight perfectly.

He leaned into a drive, his Kookaburra Kahuna meeting the leather with a sound like a pistol shot. The ball screamed through the gap at deep cover, hitting the foam boards before the fielder could even take two steps.

FOUR RUNS.

Rudra 71* (36 balls)

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “Oh, that is glorious! Technical perfection! He didn’t just hit it, he dismissed it. Look at that follow-through and the high elbow—it’s like watching a young Ricky Ponting in his absolute prime. The Eden Gardens crowd is going berserk!”

12.4: Mitchell Johnson to Rocky Rudra

Sensing danger, Johnson dug one in short—a spiteful bouncer aimed directly at Rudra’s throat. Rudra initially shaped to swivel for the pull, but realized the ball was climbing too high. In a split-second adjustment, he ducked underneath it, the ball whistling past his helmet.

He stood up and stared at Johnson, offering a defiant, aggressive nod that conveyed a silent challenge: Is that all you’ve got?

Harsha Bhogle: “The stare-down is real. There is no polite nod here, not even to a former teammate. Rudra is right in Johnson’s face without uttering a single word. The sensory experience in this stadium is peaking—you can almost smell the tension.”

12.5: Mitchell Johnson to Rocky Rudra

Anticipating a yorker, Rudra gambled and charged again. Johnson, spotting the movement late, tried to shorten his length, but he was a fraction too late. Rudra met the ball before it could swing, lofting it over the bowler’s head with a vertical bat.

It was a high-velocity shot that cleared the straight boundary by twenty rows.

**Ravi Shastri:** *”THAT’S GONE! IT’S INTO THE STANDS! Rudra is taking the mickey out of this bowling attack now! He’s playing the aggressive template to perfection. Bailey’s face says it all—he has zero answers for this hurricane!”*

SIX RUNS.

Rudra 77* (38 balls)

12.6: Mitchell Johnson to Rocky Rudra

The crowd was a deafening wall of sound. Rudra glanced across and noticed Gayle leaning heavily on his bat at the non-striker’s end, his chest heaving.

Knowing the big man desperately needed a breather, Rudra resisted the urge to go for another glory shot.

Instead, he played a soft-handed push toward mid-wicket, called “YES!” instantly, and sprinted across, reaching the other end before the fielder could even pick up the ball.

He had successfully retained the strike.

Danny Morrison: “That is smart cricket! That is the maturity of a veteran housed in the body of a nineteen-year-old. He saw Gayle was spent, took the single, and he’ll start the next over. He is taking absolute, uncompromised responsibility for the finish!”

…

SCORECARD:

RCB: 137/0

Rocky Rudra: 78* (39b 4×5, 6×5, Sr- 200.00)

Chris Gayle: 59* (39b, 4×5, 6×2, Sr- 151.28)

Runs Needed to win: 33 from 42 balls.

____

Reddit.

r/Cricket Live thread:

u/Reborn_Viking: “78 off 39. My god. He’s actually out-batting Gayle even in a playoff. I’ve seen enough—give him the trophy and the captaincy for the next 20 years.”

u/Kolkata_KnightWatch: “Seeing Rudra step out to Johnson was the most ‘Alpha’ thing I’ve seen in this IPL. He isn’t only winning, he’s also bullying them like it’s gully cricket. This is the New India mentality. No fear. No respect for names. Just domination.”

u/Zinta_Club: “I’m muting the TV. Every time Rudra hits a boundary, the camera pans to Preity and it’s just too painful. How do you stop a 19-year-old who’s literally playing like Ricky Ponting?”

u/Technical_Cric: “That single on the last ball was the most impressive thing. He knew Gayle was gassed. He didn’t want the Universe Boss to throw it away trying to be a hero next over, even though they’ll have 9 more wickets left, he still wants a perfect entry. Rudra is in total control of the narrative. It’s his world, we’re just living in it.”

u/Sofites_Nomore: “To all the people who were ‘uncomfortable’ with his aggression earlier—look at the scoreboard. That aggression is why we’re 137/0. We don’t want ‘nice’ players. We want winners. Rudra is a winner.”

The RCB dugout was already on its feet.

Virat Kohli was near the boundary ropes, shouting something at Rudra as he switched ends.

The humidity hadn’t dropped, but for the Bangalore fans, the air felt lighter than ever.

____

The 14th over was set to begin with the scoreboard reading 137/0.

The air at Eden Gardens had grown so thick with humidity that the floodlights seemed to bleed into the mist, creating a surreal, high-definition glow over the arena.

Rocky Rudra stood at the striker’s end, his face a mask of flinty resolve.

There was no smile, no acknowledgement of the crowd’s deafening roar—only the rhythmic tap of his Kookaburra Kahuna bat against the popping crease.

He looked less like a teenager and more like a seasoned general, his eyes narrowed, scanning the gaps with the cold calculation of a man who refused to leave the job unfinished.

The 14th Over (13.1 – 13.6):

Bowler: Axar Patel

13.1: Axar fired a flatter trajectory into the pads, looking to cramp the young batter. Rudra, showing that elite Punter-esque footwork, dictated that shot.

He shimmied down the track, met the ball on the half-volley, and whipped it with a wristy flourish between mid-wicket and long-on.

FOUR RUNS.

Rudra: 82* (40)

Danny Morrison: “Look at the intent! He’s not waiting for the bad ball. He’s turning good ones into boundaries! Axar is looking at the captain like, ‘What do I do?'”

13.2: Axar tried to go wider, dragging the length back. Rudra stayed back, swiveled on his heel, and executed a fierce, grounded pull shot.

The ball hissed across the grass, piercing the gap at deep square leg.

FOUR RUNS.

Rudra: 86* (41)

13.3: Sensing the panic, Rudra played with the bowler’s head. He looked to charge, saw the shorter length, and simply nudged it into the vacant pocket at mid-wicket.

He sprinted the first one with such velocity that Gayle barely had to move for the second.

2 RUNS.

Rudra: 88* (42)

13.4: Axar pushed it through quicker. Rudra opened the face of the bat at the last microsecond, guiding it past the diving point fielder. A masterclass in placement.

FOUR RUNS.

Rudra: 92* (43)

13.5: A defensive, darted-in delivery. Rudra respected the line, playing a dead-bat defense back to the bowler.

He stared Axar down, his expression unchanging, a silent reminder that he was still in total control.

A Dot Ball.

13.6: The final ball of the over. Rudra leaned into a drive, pushing it toward long-off.

He called “One!” with a sharp, commanding bark, ensuring he kept the strike for the next over.

1 RUN.

Rudra: 93* (45)

Ravi Shastri: “Clinical. Absolute surgery at Eden! 15 runs off the over and Rudra has moved to 93. He’s into the nervous nineties, but looking at his face, Danny, there isn’t a nervous bone in his body!”

___

The Fifteenth Over:

The atmosphere inside Eden Gardens had escalated into a blistering cauldron of sound.

Sixty-six thousand fans were entirely on their feet, the deafening “RCB! RCB!” chant reaching a crescendo that made the glass panels in the commentary box vibrate on their frames.

Down near the boundary ropes, Virat Kohli stood with his hands locked behind his back, a statue of hyper-focused intensity, his eyes fixed entirely on his young protégé.

Rishi Dhawan took the white ball at the top of his mark, his face etched with strain.

14.1: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

Dhawan steamed in, desperately hunting for any hint of swing in the heavy, humid air. He pitched a length ball on the off-stump line. Rudra played a soft-handed, perfectly timed push toward deep cover, and scampered aggressively for a quick double as the fielder fumbled under pressure.

Rudra: 95* off 46

14.2: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

Sensing danger, Dhawan attempted a slower-ball bouncer. Rudra tracked the flight early. Staying firmly on the front foot and waiting for the ball to sit up, he hammered it through the covers with a classic, high-elbow punch that raced across the turf.

Rudra: 99* off 47

SIX RUNS.

14.3: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

The entire stadium collectively held its breath. Dhawan looked to nail a yorker, but missed his length, serving up a low full-toss. Rudra refused to over-hit. Utilizing his signature short-arm jab—a stroke lifted straight from the Ricky Ponting manual—he stood tall and used his powerful forearms to dispatch the ball through the gap between mid-wicket and long-on.

It tore across the lightning-fast outfield like a tracer bullet.

Rudra: 103* off 48

FOUR RUNS.

…

The arena erupted into a sustained, primal roar. Deafening “RUDRA! RUDRA!” chants tore through the humid atmosphere as fans jumped and shouted, their faces flushed red with adrenaline.

Yet, the man at the center of the hurricane refused to blink.

He didn’t tear off his helmet. He didn’t raise his bat in grand theatrical triumph to the adoring stands.

Instead, he walked quietly toward Chris Gayle, offered a firm, business-like fist-bump, and turned his back on the celebration.

He walked back to his crease, calmly inspecting a small scuff on the turf before taking his guard once more.

The job wasn’t done yet.

Danny Morrison: “THERE IT IS! A HUNDRED FOR THE YOUNG WOLF! But look at him, Ravi! He’s not celebrating! He’s got pure ice in his veins! He knows the winning runs haven’t been scored yet!”

14.4: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

Visibly rattled by the utter lack of emotion from the batsman, Dhawan leaked a loose, wide delivery well outside off-stump. Rudra punished it with instantaneous cruelty, unleashing a ferocious cut shot that whistled past point.

Rudra: 107* off 49

FOUR RUNS.

14.5: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

Dhawan pulled his length back to a solid defensive line. Rudra defended it squarely down the pitch, the sweet crack of the middle of the bat echoing through the hushed, trembling tension of the ground.

A Dot ball.

14.6: Rishi Dhawan to Rocky Rudra

Dhawan delivered a fuller ball. Rudra met it cleanly, driving it straight down to long-on. He jogged the single comfortably, his eyes already locked onto the vanishing target.

Rudra: 108* off 51

____

In the Commentary Box

As the over concluded, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd leaned into his microphone, shaking his head in sheer disbelief.

David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: “He’s an absolute machine, isn’t he? One hundred and eight not out. He’s just smashed a century in a high-stakes Qualifier, and he’s behaving like he’s merely finishing up a morning net session. This is a completely different breed of Indian cricketer. No drama, no theatrics—just cold, calculated devastation.”

___

End of Over 15:

167/0

Target: 170

Runs Needed: 3 from 30 balls.

Rocky Rudra: 108* (51)

Chris Gayle: 59* (39)

____

Reddit

u/NewIndia_Cricket: “Century and he didn’t even lift his bat. That is the coldest thing I’ve ever seen. Rudra isn’t here for the fame. He’s here to bury the opposition. Total Punter vibes. 🐺🔥”

u/Eden__Local: “The crowd went silent for a second because we expected a celebration. Then we realized he’s just that serious. 19 years old and he’s got the temperament of a monk and the hands of a butcher. RCB are in the final!”

u/Sepoy_Critique: “To everyone calling him arrogant—watch him inspect the pitch after the hundred. That’s focus. That’s why he’s nearly at 800+ runs this season league stage only, not counting this one ofc. He doesn’t switch off until the scoreboard says ‘RCB won’.”

u/Paltan_Pain: “Why did we let him go man? Seeing him at 108* with Gayle at the other end is just cruel. He’s taking us into a new era but MI clown management decided to pick Bumrah over Rudra. Everytime I see him play, I can’t accept that he’s not MI player anymore. 😭😭”

The smell of the grass, the taste of the humid night air, and the sight of Rudra standing at the striker’s end now, leaning slightly on his bat, staring at the bowler.

Only 3 runs remained.

The Wolf was ready to finish off the hunt.