🏏 Chapter 37 — The Conservative Wall
Age: 17 Years
Three weeks after returning to Kolkata—
the noise around Riddhiman Paul changed.
Not public noise.
Cricket noise.
The dangerous kind.
Inside club tents, selection offices, domestic cricket circles, and CAB discussions—
his name kept appearing repeatedly.
Not with certainty.
With argument.
Because statistically, he had already done enough to become automatic selection for the U-19 World Cup.
But cricket systems were never built entirely on statistics.
Especially in that era.
⚙️ The Selection Meetings Begin
At a quiet BCCI-linked meeting room in Mumbai—
selectors gathered around long table.
Files stacked.
Overseas reports arranged carefully.
Score sheets spread across desk.
One selector adjusted glasses and read aloud:
"18 matches.
2330 runs. Average 116. Strike rate above 150."
Silence.
Another selector leaned back slowly.
"That itself doesn't look believable."
Then came the real issue.
Not numbers.
Style.
🧠 The Problem Called Riddhiman Paul
Traditional cricket structure understood certain batting archetypes:
classical
aggressive
defensive
technical
attacking opener
But Riddhiman didn't fully fit anything.
And systems dislike things they cannot categorize.
One selector finally said:
"His reactions are too late."
Another: "Too instinctive."
Another: "Too much improvisation."
A younger selector replied immediately:
"But he succeeds in every condition."
The room became quiet again.
Because nobody could argue against results anymore.
⚡ Overseas Reports Create Division
Australian tour report:
"Best player against pace in tournament."
England report:
"Technically adaptable beyond age level."
West Indies report:
"Most unpredictable batter in youth circuit."
Every report praised him differently.
And strangely—
that created more discomfort.
Because great systems prefer clear definitions.
Riddhiman kept breaking definitions.
🏏 Meanwhile in Kolkata
Far away from selection politics, Riddhiman practiced quietly at local ground.
No media.
No crowd.
Only:
wet nets
red ball sounds
evening humidity
Ghosh Kaku watched silently from outside boundary.
After one session, he finally asked:
"You know they are debating you?"
Riddhiman continued shadow batting slowly.
"Yes."
"You worried?"
Pause.
"No."
Ghosh Kaku looked carefully at him.
"Why?"
Riddhiman answered calmly:
"If system becomes uncomfortable after performance…"
Pause.
"…then performance is not the real issue."
Ghosh Kaku smiled faintly.
He had expected that answer.
⚙️ Conservative Camp Grows Stronger
Inside selector meetings, one senior selector began influencing others heavily.
He believed:
discipline mattered more than instinct
structure mattered more than freedom
textbook batting survived longer
To him, Riddhiman represented danger.
Not because of failure risk.
Because of influence risk.
One afternoon he said openly:
"If junior players start copying this style blindly, Indian batting structure will become chaos."
That sentence shifted room energy immediately.
Because older cricket systems always feared loss of control.
Another selector argued back:
"But genius never looks normal early."
The senior selector replied instantly:
"Genius without structure becomes entertainment. Not longevity."
The debate intensified.
🌧️ Rain Practice
Back in Kolkata, heavy rain interrupted evening practice.
Most players packed equipment quickly.
Riddhiman stayed.
Watching rain bounce off pitch surface.
Then unexpectedly, he walked into wet practice strip barefoot.
Ghosh Kaku frowned.
"What are you doing?"
Riddhiman looked downward at soaked ground.
"Bounce changes differently in rain."
Even now— during selection uncertainty— his brain kept studying cricket automatically.
That frightened Ghosh Kaku slightly sometimes.
Because obsession had evolved beyond ambition long ago.
🧠 The Real Fear of Selectors
Late one night, another internal meeting happened.
And finally, one selector quietly revealed the truth.
"This is not about runs."
Silence.
"He makes decisions independently."
Another selector frowned.
"So?"
"So players like that become hard to control later."
That sentence exposed everything.
Not technique.
Not temperament.
Control.
Traditional systems trusted players who:
followed correction
accepted instruction
stayed structurally predictable
But Riddhiman adapted internally.
Without waiting for permission.
That terrified conservative minds.
⚡ Cricket Magazines Add Fuel
Soon cricket magazines began noticing selection hesitation.
One article asked:
"Can India afford to ignore overseas dominance?"
Another wrote:
"Are selectors uncomfortable with unconventional excellence?"
Still— ordinary public barely noticed.
Because U-19 cricket remained niche in that era.
But inside cricket circles—
pressure was building rapidly.
🌙 Rooftop Conversation
That night, Riddhiman stood again on rooftop under cloudy sky.
Ghosh Kaku beside him quietly.
No immediate conversation.
Only distant Kolkata sounds below.
Finally Ghosh Kaku asked:
"If they reject you?"
Long silence followed.
Wind moved lightly across rooftop.
Then Riddhiman answered calmly:
"They already tried rejecting my batting once."
Pause.
"It evolved anyway."
For few seconds, Ghosh Kaku said nothing.
Because suddenly, he realized something clearly:
Riddhiman no longer depended emotionally on validation.
That made him even more dangerous.
🏁 Ending of Chapter 37
Inside Indian cricket, the conflict had now become unavoidable.
One side saw: risk.
The other side saw: evolution.
And somewhere between tradition and fear—
the U-19 World Cup decision moved closer.